Where a Canadian warranty dispute actually gets heard

Our mandatory arbitration clauses page covers the five provinces that now void a clause forcing a warranty dispute into private arbitration. What that page doesn't cover is the practical next question: once a clause like that is voided, or was never in the contract at all, which court actually hears the dispute — and whether you need a lawyer to bring it there. Both questions turn on each province's own small claims monetary limit, and most of the country has just raised that number, several within the last two years.

Why the limit matters more than it sounds like it should

A small claims division exists specifically so a dispute can be resolved without hiring a lawyer, on simplified procedure, generally for a lower filing fee — exactly the kind of forum a homeowner or vehicle owner disputing a warranty claim, refund, or cancellation actually wants to use. Above a province's own monetary ceiling, a claim generally has to go to that province's regular superior-court trial-level division instead, where the process is slower and more formal, and where the practical case for hiring a lawyer is much stronger. A warranty dispute that's actually worth more than the local small claims limit isn't automatically ineligible for a simplified process — but it usually has to be brought elsewhere instead, or the amount claimed has to be reduced to fit.

The limits, province by province

Alberta: $100,000 — the Alberta Court of Justice's Civil Claims division, doubled from $50,000 effective August 1, 2023, the first increase since 2014.
Saskatchewan: $50,000 — the Provincial Court's small claims process, raised from $30,000 effective April 1, 2024.
Ontario: $50,000 — the Small Claims Court, raised from $35,000 effective October 1, 2025, under Ontario Regulation 42/25.
Manitoba: $20,000 — under the Court of King's Bench Small Claims Practices Act, raised from $15,000 effective January 1, 2025.
New Brunswick: $20,000 — the Small Claims Court, under the province's own Small Claims Act.
Nova Scotia: $25,000 — the Small Claims Court, a limit set in 2006.
Newfoundland and Labrador: $25,000 — the Provincial Court's small claims jurisdiction.
Prince Edward Island: $16,000 — the Small Claims Section of the Supreme Court, doubled from $8,000.
Quebec: $15,000 — the Court of Québec's Small Claims Division, unchanged since January 1, 2015, and the one jurisdiction here where a lawyer generally can't represent you at the hearing itself, win or lose.
British Columbia: a two-tier system — the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) has exclusive jurisdiction over most claims up to $5,000, and the Provincial Court's Small Claims division handles claims from $5,001 up to $35,000.
Yukon: $25,000 — the Small Claims Court.
Northwest Territories: $35,000 — the Territorial Court's civil claims jurisdiction.
Nunavut: $20,000 — the Nunavut Court of Justice's small claims jurisdiction.

Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta just made "small claims" cover a much bigger warranty dispute

Three of the largest recent moves are worth calling out specifically, because of how much they change what "small claims" actually means for a warranty dispute. Alberta doubled its own limit from $50,000 to $100,000 in August 2023 — the province's first increase in nine years — putting a meaningfully larger home warranty or vehicle service contract dispute within reach of a simplified, no-lawyer-required process. Saskatchewan and Ontario each followed with their own increases, to $50,000 apiece, in April 2024 and October 2025 respectively. A dispute over a mid-size home warranty claim or a vehicle service contract refund that might once have exceeded an older limit now often fits comfortably under the current one in these three provinces specifically.

British Columbia's split system is its own trap for the unprepared

BC is the one province on this list that doesn't use a single small claims ceiling at all. A dispute of $5,000 or less generally has to go through the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT) — an online, mostly-written tribunal, not a traditional courtroom — rather than the Provincial Court's own Small Claims division, which instead handles the $5,001-to-$35,000 range. Filing a $4,000 warranty dispute directly in Provincial Court, or a $10,000 dispute with the CRT, generally means filing in the wrong forum. Confirm which specific body has jurisdiction over your claim amount before you file anywhere, not after.

What this means if your warranty dispute is heading to court

If a mandatory arbitration clause in your contract has already been voided under the law our arbitration clauses page covers, or your contract never had one, check your own province's current limit above before assuming you need a lawyer at all — a home warranty refund dispute, a denied vehicle service contract claim, or a cancellation-refund fight typically falls well inside even the lowest limits on this list. And because several of these numbers have changed within the last two years, re-check the current figure directly with your own province's court system before filing rather than relying on an older number you may have seen elsewhere, including on this page after enough time has passed.

This isn't legal advice for your specific dispute: some provinces exclude specific claim types from small claims jurisdiction regardless of amount (Nova Scotia's Small Claims Court, for example, can't hear a claim about land ownership, wills, or defamation) — confirm your own province's current rules and any claim-type exclusions before filing.