Where your service dog can relieve itself at an airport: the CTA spells out the rule

24 August 2026. A second "CTA 101" notice from the Canadian Transportation Agency sets out what the operators of larger terminals must provide for service dogs: "Terminal operators must provide designated relief areas for service dogs both outside the terminal and within the secure side of the terminal." The areas must be identified with tactile and Braille signage, kept clean, and their locations published on the terminal's website.

What this changes

Nothing in law — section 227 of the regulation has said this since it came into force. What is new is an official checklist a handler can show a staff member who says there is nowhere for the dog to go. If you cannot find the relief area, it exists because the regulation says it must, and the terminal's own website is where the location is supposed to be published.

What it does not change

The obligation falls on the operators of larger terminals — airports in a capital or with 200,000 or more passengers a year, and the rail, ferry and bus terminals the regulation covers. A shop, a restaurant or an apartment building has no such duty; those are provincial questions, covered province by province.

This is general information, not legal advice. Source checked 9 September 2026.