A number of people have come forward stating they won’t sign the petition because they agree with certification. Let me be more clear…

I agree with certification too. In fact, my service dog is certified by my province and by a service dog organization. I can fly with a letter from my trainer, but I feel because I am government certified, this should not be necessary.

I have, too often I might add, seen untrained dogs while I am out with my trained service dog, and have seen people trying to bring in what they refer to as a “emotional support dog” or “therapy dog”, jumping and pulling, barking, excessively sniffing, or generally just being a dog. Service dogs don’t act like that. And service dog handlers don’t refer to their dogs as support dogs or therapy dogs. Because those dogs are completely different and don’t have public access rights in any province or territory in Canada (they may have housing rights in some provinces).

Certification is only available through three Provincial governments, each having a separate provincial service dog act along with it. That means the other provinces (and territories) in Canada don’t have access to this, because every province has different rules. Certification is currently voluntary and varies in cost depending on the province. If you don’t have the certification, you are still protected under the Human Rights Act for that province and within Canada, but even the Human Rights Tribunal will ensure that there is some proof of training, even with owner trained dogs. This is why good owner trainers keep track of their training, and most will get certified if they can.

The regulation that has been changed by the Canadian Transportation Agency doesn’t recognize provincial certification. It only recognizes service dog trainers, not regular dog trainers. The problem with this is that there aren’t a lot of service dog specific trainers available, and the ones that are are very expensive.

So some owner trainers will hire a regular dog trainer, because that is the only option available to them. Others have a training background, so they train their dogs to exceed the standards. If a person can show that they have done the work, that their service dog is well behaved in public and could pass a public access test comparable to or exceeding the testing of a program dog, then these dogs should be able to fly with their handlers.

Service dog handlers shouldn’t have to fight every step of the way to be able to do these things. But we fight. Because we want equity for everyone.