Guide Animal Certification

Guide animals help people who require assistance to avoid hazards or to perform tasks. A guide animal can help a person to negotiate through public areas, alert a person when hearing a sound, or perform service tasks like opening doors.

According to the Guide Animal Act, a person with a disability accompanied by a certified guide animal has the same rights, privileges and obligations as a person not accompanied by a guide animal – specifically, they may enter and use an accommodation, public transportation, eating place, lodging place or any other place to which the pubic is invited as long as the guide animal is:

• prevented from occupying a seat in a public conveyance or eating place; and
• held by a leash or harness.

Obtain Certification

To obtain certification (Guide Animal Certificate) under the Guide Animal Act, your guide dog or other guide animal must be trained by a training facility that is recognized as providing acceptable training standards. 

Upon successful completion of the program, the training facility will provide a graduation certificate to the owner of the guide animal. Mail a copy of this graduation certificate to the Ministry of Public Safety, Corporate Policy and Planning Office (CPPO), see Contact Us page. This graduation certificate is proof your guide animal is trained to assist you. Upon verification of the certificate, the CPPO will issue a driver-licence-sized Guide Animal Certificate that can be shown if any questions arise when using public transportation or entering an establishment with your guide animal.