What this is, and what it isn’t
Last updated 2026-09-26
The short version is that we are a private business selling a keepsake. The long version is below, and most of our competitors would rather you never read theirs.
We are not a government body
Canada ESA Register is a private business. We are not part of, appointed by, approved by, or affiliated with the Government of Canada, any provincial, territorial or municipal government, any human rights commission, any residential tenancy board, the Canadian Transportation Agency, or any regulator. No part of the state has reviewed what we sell.
No official register of emotional support animals exists in Canada
Not ours, and not anyone else’s. There is no statutory register to be listed on, so nobody can put your pet on one. Any business implying otherwise is describing something that does not exist.
Emotional support animals have no special status as such in Canadian law
Several provinces certify guide dogs and service dogs under their own laws, among them British Columbia, Alberta and Nova Scotia, and human rights law protects people with disabilities who rely on those dogs. An emotional support animal is not the same thing and has no equivalent standing. Calling a pet an emotional support animal does not create rights of access to shops, restaurants, hotels, public transit or workplaces.
Presenting a pet as a certified guide or service dog when it is not can be an offence in some provinces. Please do not use anything we sell to do that.
What actually decides whether you can keep a pet in a rental
Your province’s residential tenancy law, your lease, and any condo or strata rules for the building. In Ontario, a “no pets” clause in a lease is void, although a landlord can still choose not to rent to you; in most other provinces a landlord may restrict or refuse pets. Our free guide sets it out province by province.
Where a person has a disability and needs an animal because of it, provincial human rights law may require a landlord to accommodate that need, up to the point of undue hardship. That depends on the person’s circumstances and evidence, usually from a health professional who treats them. It never depends on a registration, ours included.
The landlord letter
If you buy a landlord letter, on its own or with the certificate, the letter is a template completed with your own details. It is not legal advice, and we are not a law firm. No landlord is obliged to agree to it, and condo or strata rules on animals still bind you whatever the landlord says. It asks to keep a pet; it is not a disability accommodation request. If you need your animal because of a disability, that request needs evidence from a health professional who treats you, and nothing we write can stand in for it.
Airlines and public transit
No Canadian airline accepts a registry certificate, ours or anyone else’s. Large carriers must carry trained service dogs under federal accessibility rules. In a 2023 decision on complaints against Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat, KLM and VIA Rail, the Canadian Transportation Agency required them to accept emotional support dogs only, in the cabin in a carrier, where the person provides a letter from a treating physician or mental health professional and a recent veterinary certificate, in advance, and said the decision will guide future cases. Other emotional support animals travel as pets under each airline’s own pet policy. Airlines do not all describe their policies the same way, so check directly with yours; nothing we issue changes their policy.
Not legal or medical advice
Nothing on this site or in anything we send you is legal advice, and buying from us does not make us your lawyer. We do not sell medical or psychological letters, we employ no clinicians, and we ask you no questions about your health.
For free housing information, your province’s residential tenancy office is the place to start, and many cities have tenant advice clinics. If you are struggling, call or text 9-8-8, free, 24 hours a day.
No guaranteed outcomes
We cannot promise a landlord, property manager, condo board, hotel, airline or anyone else will say yes. Our certificate and card are a record of your pet and nothing more, and a letter is only a request. That is all they do, and it is all we claim.
Version 2026-09-26. We record which version applied to your order, and we email you before anything material changes. Changes are never retrospective.