A group complaint has been filed with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in hopes that the Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities regulation be changed to recognize owner trainers, dog trainers, and also recognize provincial certification where available. 

The Canadian Transport Agency has stated, “

It is also important to note that neither regulations prevent carriers from having a more flexible policy, i.e. the regulations do not prevent them from accepting self-trained animals but rather sets out which animals carriers are required to accept. Therefore, an exemption to the regulations is not necessary for a carrier to accept a self-trained service dog.”

However, without a change in regulation, the airlines continue to deny owner trained service dogs, even with letters from dog trainers that helped ensure they were trained. They are also ignoring those who have passed provincial certification, which is equivalent to that of service dog organizations, without a letter from an accredited service dog trainer. 

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