Ottawa, ON – Today, Michael Barrett, Conservative Member of Parliament for Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands—Rideau Lakes, introduced his Private Member’s Bill, the Service Dogs for Veterans Act, in the House of Commons.
Bill C-282 seeks to establish service dogs as an eligible form of rehabilitation support under the Veterans Well-Being Act and create a national training and certification standard for service dogs, including standards for the breeding, training, accreditation, and placement of service dogs across Canada, in coordination with provinces and territories.
“Veterans who have served our country deserve access to reliable, quality support services,” Barrett said. “For many veterans living with operational or other service-related injuries, service dogs provide life-changing and often even life-saving assistance. A national standard is an important step toward ensuring veterans receive the care and support they have earned.”
The proposed legislation was inspired by the work of Veteran’s Elite Canines, a non-profit organization founded by veteran and service dog handler Cindy Weir. The organization supports veterans through expertly trained service dogs, advocates for a national training standard within the service dog industry, and works to match qualified service dogs with veterans in need.
“This bill would support our Veteran community and recognizes the life-changing impact that properly trained Service Dogs will have on many Canadian Veterans,” Cindy Weir, veteran and founder of Veteran’s Elite Canines, said.
This bill builds on broad public support and multi-partisan consensus around the need for a national framework to train, certify, and increase access to service dogs for veterans.
“It’s thanks to the incredible dedication of veterans, their advocates, and organizations like Veteran’s Elite Canines that we have seen the meaningful impact service dogs can have on the lives of veterans. These organizations have demonstrated that veterans living with operational stress injuries can lead healthy, happy, fulfilling lives and remain active members of their communities with the support of a trained service dog,” added Barrett. “Now is the time to act to include service dogs as a recognized form of federal support for veterans, establish a national training standard, and ensure that service dogs are available to every veteran who needs one.”