Update!
I decided to see if I would be accepted for flying with both Air Canada and WestJet today. Note that I flew with WestJet in September. My service dog is certified by my provincial government and by an individual who specializes in Service Dog training.
Air Canada has denied me. WestJet says they will not answer my question by email and I must book a flight and speak to someone over the phone. I will wait for hours on hold later today to see what they say.
In case you don’t know, I’m Melanie, I have an almost 3 year old owner trained service dog. I had the help of a trainer, and had him both BC Government certified and MSAR certified. He performs multiple tasks to help me with my disabilities. A few main tasks are alerting to low blood sugar and alerting to chronic pain increase and finding a seat, or alerting to anxiety, distracting, or finding an exit if necessary, and bringing medication to me.
I have a social work diploma and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Family Studies and a minor in Psychology. I have provided advocacy in my previous work, and while I am no longer working, I continue to try and change injustice.
I began this journey after trying to book a flight for myself in September with Westjet and learning the rules had changed from the last time I had flown - the CTA updated the ATDPA June 25, 2021. When a friend of mine tried to book with Westjet, they denied her, so I began to reach out to see if other handlers had issues and began a group human rights complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission and started this petition:
While I was able to fly with Westjet in September, it seems they do not want to answer me by email as to wether or not I can fly now. Air Canada will not allow me to fly with them with my service dog.
Please continue to share the petition, write your MP/MLA, and the media so that the public is aware of this awful discrimination towards legitimate service dog teams. Their is a letter attached to the petition under updates, however we are working on an updated one with the new information that we have learned from the airlines.
The new letter will be uploaded to our new Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/640607876961590/
and you will be able to copy and change it to your liking before sending �
I know not everyone will agree with different certification standards, or having a national standard, or even simply different training styles or standards. But we all can work together to come up with ways to educate the public and the airlines and Canadian Transport Agency and hopefully have them include owner trained service dog teams on flights within Canada.
Email addresses to write:
Here is a list of addresses that we should all be writing to ALL of them, in addition you should write to your local MP. Most MP's won't even look at what you wrote unless you live in their district.
Minister of Transportation office mintc@tc.gc.ca
Federal Minister of Transportationomar.alghabra@parl.gc.ca
Canadian Transportation Agency info@otc-cta.gc.ca
Human Rights Code webadmin@justice.gc.ca
The Honourable David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada mcu@justice.gc.ca
Canadian Human Rights Commission Info.Com@chrc-ccdp.gc.ca
Carolyn Bennett Carolyn.Bennett@parl.gc.ca
Air Canada
Shaunna Rainey Manager, Regulatory Compliance – Customer Care shaunna.rainey@aircanada.ca
Twyla Robinson Director Customer Care & International Operations, Air Canada Centre Twyla.robinson@aircanada.ca
Anthony Doyle, Vice President Customer Contact Centres vp.contactcentres-centresdeservice@aircanada.ca
Michael Rousseau, President and CEO of Air Canada michael.rousseau@aircanada.ca
Air Canada Medical desk acmedical@aircanada.ca
WestJetMark Porter, Executive Vice-President, People and Culture m.porter@westjet.com
Westjet Special Care Desk specialcaredesk@westjet.com