I was refused entry with my service dog. What now?

It happens at a restaurant door, a taxi window, a hotel desk, a grocery store. Someone says the dog cannot come in. You have a few seconds to decide what to do, and what you do in those seconds shapes everything that can happen afterwards.

This page is in the order events actually run: the moment itself, the same evening, and then the three routes a complaint can take. The routes differ by province, and one of them — the one many people look for first — does not exist in Ontario for service dogs generally; Ontario's only statutory offence covers guide dogs for blind persons.

Your rights come from your province's legislation, and no registration is required anywhere in Canada. What a door needs is an answer, and what a complaint needs is a record. Both are what a ServDog registration is for.

In the moment

Show them the record first. This is what it is for. Show your ServDog card — from your phone's wallet, or the printed copy — or open your dog's profile: the dog's name and photo, its registration number, its status, and — once you have turned it on — a summary of what it is trained to do. Most people at a door have never been told what a service dog is, and a card that answers the question before they ask it is there to make the conversation shorter. Say what you are handing them: your dog is registered, its training is on record, and this is what it does. That is a record you keep, not a government certificate, and you do not need to claim more. In British Columbia and Nova Scotia, where the province issues its own card and passing a dog off as a certified team is an offence, "this is my registry record" is the whole sentence.

If that does not end it, stay calm and stay brief. The person refusing you is usually a front-line employee applying a rule they were told, and they are the least able to change it. Alberta's Human Rights Commission advises that you "tell them their behaviour is unwelcome or unwanted and ask them to stop." British Columbia's guidance on guide and service dogs says the same, with a condition worth keeping: "If it is safe to do so, tell the person that their actions or comments are unacceptable and ask them to stop."

Know what they are allowed to ask, and answer that. In most provinces the permissible question is whether the dog is trained to assist you with a disability; in Ontario it is a request to see a health professional's letter or an obvious vest or harness (or, for a guide dog under the Blind Persons' Rights Act, the provincial card); in Alberta, BC and Nova Scotia it is your provincial identification card, if you hold one. We have a page on exactly what a business may ask in each province. Answer the permitted question once. You do not owe anyone your diagnosis, a demonstration, or an argument.

Ask for the manager, and ask for names. BC's guidance: "If the discrimination or harassment happens at work, in your apartment building, or in a store or restaurant, ask your employer or landlord or the manager to do something about it." A manager can often reverse a refusal on the spot. If not, you want to know who refused you and who they answer to.

Do not force the issue physically. Walking past a person who has refused you turns a clear-cut access complaint into a dispute about your conduct. Leave, and let the complaint do the work.

The sign in the window

Food premises are the commonest place this happens, and many of them display the same poster. In Toronto it is a Toronto Public Health sign: "No Live Animals Allowed*", with the asterisk reading "Exception – Service Animals as permitted under Ontario Regulation 562/90 – Food Premises Section 60." Read the footnote before you read the headline. The sign is not a refusal; it is the operator's own notice that a service dog is allowed in.

Two things are worth knowing about it. The first is that the regulation on the poster no longer exists. O. Reg. 562/90 was replaced on 1 July 2018 by O. Reg. 493/17, Food Premises, and the rule is now section 14. Subsection (1) is the headline: "Every room where food is prepared, processed, packaged, served, transported, manufactured, handled, sold, offered for sale or displayed shall be kept free from live birds or animals." Subsection (2) is the footnote: "Subsection (1) does not apply to any of the following: 1. Service animals described in subsection 80.45 (4) of Ontario Regulation 191/11 (Integrated Accessibility Standards) made under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 that are in an area of the food premise where food is served, sold or offered for sale." An old poster and the current rule land in the same place.

The second is the limit written into that paragraph: the exception covers the areas where food is served, sold or offered for sale — the seating and the counter. It does not cover the kitchen or anywhere food is prepared, and asking for that turns a good position into a bad one.

So, at a coffee shop with this sign:

1. Walk in. Do not wait to be challenged.
2. If someone stops you, show the record first, as above, and say what it is: "My dog is registered with ServDog, its training is on record, and this is what it is trained to do. This is my registry record, not a government certificate." Then point at the poster: their own sign says service animals are the exception.
3. If they ask for proof, Ontario's rule is the one the sign points to — subsection 80.45 (4) — and it gives you two ways, of which you need one: a dog that is readily identifiable as a service animal by a vest or harness, or a letter from one of the regulated health professionals the subsection lists, saying you need the animal for reasons relating to a disability. The Ontario page quotes the subsection. Nobody is entitled to your diagnosis.
4. If they still refuse, ask for the manager and take names, then leave and let the complaint do the work. The number on the poster — 416-338-7600 — is Toronto Public Health, whose sign it is; they will confirm the rule to the operator. The routes below take it from there.

If your dog is an emotional support animal, the honest reading of the poster is different and we will not soften it: the exception is for service animals as the AODA regulation describes them, and an emotional support animal has no right of entry to a food premises in Ontario. Paragraphs 4 and 5 of the same subsection let an operator choose to admit pet dogs on a patio, or indoors where only low-risk or pre-packaged food is handled — but that is the operator's choice, not your right, and a record from us does not change it.

The same evening

Write it down. Both commissions say so in nearly the same words — Alberta: "make notes of what happened, when and where it happened, and how it made you feel"; BC: "Keep a written record of exactly what happened and when, and of what was said."

Specifically: the date and time; the business and its address; the names or descriptions of everyone involved; what you said and what they said, as close to verbatim as you can; what you showed them; whether anyone witnessed it, and how to reach them; and anything on paper — a receipt, a booking confirmation, a photo of the sign on the door. Alberta's guidance also suggests keeping copies of relevant documents and identifying potential witnesses.

Do this the same day. A note written that evening is contemporaneous evidence; the same note written a month later, when the complaint form asks for it, is a recollection. Every route below asks for this material.

Route 1: a statutory complaint (Alberta, British Columbia, Nova Scotia)

Three provinces run identification programs for service dogs backed by an offence and a complaint form, and each is a direct route that does not go through the human rights system. These routes exist only for a team the province has qualified — a card from anyone else, including us, is not what they are asking about. (Ontario's Blind Persons' Rights Act has an identification card and a $5,000 offence for guide dogs only, with no complaint form; it is enforced by prosecution. Ontario page.)

Alberta. The province says you "can report a concern to the Service Dog Assessment Team if you encounter or witness a violation of the Service Dogs Act and Service Dogs Qualification Regulations or Alberta Training Standard," using its Service Dog Concerns Form. The reportable concerns listed include a qualified service dog team denied access after presenting identification. Alberta's own summary states a fine of up to $3,000 for discriminating against a person lawfully using a qualified service dog or refusing access to a qualified service dog team. Who lays the charge — the assessment team, police, or a prosecutor — is not stated on the provincial pages we reviewed, so do not expect the form itself to produce a prosecution. Alberta page.

British Columbia. The province's public-rights page: "Handlers who believe they have been wrongly denied access or accommodation may submit a Complaint Form to Security Programs or contact the BC Human Right Tribunal" [sic]. The form is SPD0806, and it is for complaints "to the Registrar about matters relating to the Guide Dog and Service Dog Act." The province says the Act "makes it an offence to deny a certified dog and handler team access or accommodation"; the 2015 release announcing the Act put the maximum fine at $3,000. British Columbia page.

Nova Scotia. "You can make a complaint to the Service Dog Program for any violation of the Service Dog Act." The program says it will take reports against "business owners, public transportation providers and landlords who unlawfully deny public access or tenancy rights to certified service dog teams," and that "The maximum fine for Service Dog Act violations is $3,000."

Nova Scotia also says the thing the other two leave implicit, and it applies to all three: "If a service dog team doesn't have an identification card and is denied access to a public place, the penalty provisions of the Service Dog Act would not apply. However, anyone who is denied access because of a disability can still file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission." Nova Scotia page.

If you live in one of these provinces and have not applied to its program, the refusal you just experienced is the reason to.

Route 2: a human rights complaint (everywhere)

Every province and territory has a human rights commission or tribunal, every one of them treats disability as a protected ground, and every one of them has a deadline. Miss the deadline and the complaint is over before it starts. The deadlines are not the same.

Where the refusal is one of a series, most bodies count from the last incident — Ontario: "you must file the application within one year of the last incident." Some will extend a deadline in exceptional circumstances; none promises to.

What a complaint costs. We have not found a human rights body in Canada that charges a filing fee, and BC says outright that "Mediation is free." What a complaint does cost is time: expect the process to be measured in months, and to start with an attempt at settlement before anything is decided.

Mediation comes first almost everywhere. In Ontario, "where the Tribunal directs a party to attend mediation, that party's attendance shall be mandatory." BC: "Settlement is voluntary. If you can't agree, the process continues." Alberta calls its version conciliation, "a non-adversarial way to resolve complaints with the help of a human rights officer," with a 60-day window once a conciliator is assigned. Manitoba offers "pre-complaint mediation" before a complaint is even registered. Quebec offers mediation first when it takes a complaint on. New Brunswick assigns a mediator; PEI has one on staff; the Northwest Territories calls it dispute resolution. A complaint can end here, with a policy change, an apology, and sometimes a payment.

What you will be asked for. The facts you wrote down that evening; anything establishing that you have a disability and that the dog is trained to assist with it — in the terms your province uses; and what you want as a remedy. This is where a dated training record and a tidy folder of documents stop being administrative and start being the case. What a record is for, in plain terms.

Route 3: municipal enforcement (Toronto, so far)

Toronto handles refusal of service to a service dog team as a bylaw matter. The city's instruction is short: "Contact 311 and the City will investigate." Its page continues: "A bylaw officer will educate the business owner of their responsibility to provide service," "A $500 ticket can be issued," and "If the business owner refuses, or if it is a persistent or recurring issue, progressive enforcement measures (which may include a summons to Provincial court) may take place."

This is likely to be faster than a tribunal application. It is a separate body from the Human Rights Tribunal; the city's page points to the Tribunal as a separate option and says nothing about one route affecting the other — if you intend to do both, keep the Tribunal's one-year clock in view regardless. We have not found an equivalent published route in another Canadian city for businesses generally; if your municipality has one, its bylaw enforcement office will know. Taxis are different: most cities license drivers, and a refusal by a licensed driver can usually be reported to the city's taxi-licensing office as well.

Ontario: the route that does not exist for service dogs

Many Ontario handlers assume the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act is where a refusal gets reported. The Act does set the customer-service rule about service animals, and the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario runs a public line that people can use to "provide feedback or complaints." But the province's own 2017 compliance report — still the one posted on ontario.ca — is explicit about what happens next: "the directorate does not specifically investigate individual complaints, the information is used to identify trends and inform official legislative reviews."

So in Ontario the picture is: the Human Rights Tribunal for a remedy, with a one-year clock; 311 in Toronto for a ticket; and the accessibility directorate only if you want your incident counted in a trend. The Ontario page sets out the customer-service rule and the guide dog statute.

What we do

A refusal is the moment you find out whether your record exists. The card and profile are what you show at the door; the rest of the account is what you show a commission.

Your Taskbook holds a dated log of what your dog is trained to do and who trained it; your document store holds your health care provider's letter, your provincial card if your province issues one, and your training paperwork; and your account is where the note you write on the evening of a refusal can live alongside all of it. When a commission asks you to describe the dog's training or attach your documents, you print or export what it asks for rather than reconstructing eighteen months from memory.

Nothing we issue creates a right of entry — the routes above run on your province's law, not on our card. What they ask for is evidence, and a registration kept from the start is evidence you already have.

Last reviewed: 9 September 2026. Time limits and complaint procedures change; confirm the current rule at the body's own page, linked above, before relying on a date. This is general information, not legal advice.