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Canada ESA Register
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ESA letters in Canada: what they can and cannot do

This is a page about a product we deliberately do not sell, and about the one kind of letter that can actually matter.

What an emotional support animal is, in plain words

Before anything else

There is no official Canadian register, and no letter puts an animal on one

No official register of emotional support animals exists in Canada, ours included. Emotional support animals have no special status as such in Canadian law, so there is no category for a letter to certify an animal into.

The ESA letter is an American idea. In the United States, a letter from a licensed professional has a defined role in housing law, which is why an industry sells them online. Canadian law works differently. What can matter here is not a letter as a product but evidence of a disability-related need, from someone who actually treats you, used in a specific request.

We do not sell ESA or medical letters, we do not employ clinicians, and we ask nothing about your health. The only letter we write is a pet request letter to a landlord, which asks to keep a pet and says nothing about your health.

The register card and the letter-size certificate, as they arrive. A real register number takes the place of the dots.

When a letter from your own health professional can matter

Every province’s human rights law prohibits discrimination in housing because of disability, and requires landlords and condo corporations to accommodate a tenant’s disability-related needs to the point of undue hardship. That can mean changing a no-pets rule for an animal that meets a genuine disability-related need. It is decided case by case, and nothing guarantees the outcome.

A landlord asked for that kind of accommodation is generally entitled to enough information to understand the need, not to your diagnosis. That information comes from the health professional who treats you: a family doctor, psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist who knows your situation. Some charge a fee for letters, which is normal. The difference is that theirs rests on actually knowing you.

What online ESA letter sellers cannot give you

A bought letter cannot give you a right the law does not contain, and it cannot oblige a landlord, a condo board or an airline to accept your animal. Nor can it give you the one thing that makes a letter persuasive: a professional who knows you and can stand behind what they wrote.

A document from a service that assessed you once, for the purpose of selling the document, is easy for a landlord to question. When the Canadian Transportation Agency set its conditions for emotional support dogs in 2023, it named the fraudulent representation of pets as emotional support dogs among its reasons for limiting them.

Letters and flying

The Accessible Transportation for Persons with Disabilities Regulations require carriers to accept trained service dogs. They do not require carriers to accept emotional support animals.

In a 2023 decision on complaints against Air Canada, WestJet, Air Transat, KLM and VIA Rail, the Canadian Transportation Agency required them to accept an emotional support dog, and only a dog, and said the decision will guide future cases. The conditions: proof from a physician or mental health professional that you are being treated for a mental health disability and need the dog, a veterinary certificate sent at least 96 hours before travel, and a carrier kept at or under the seat. Any other animal travels as a pet under the carrier’s own policy, whatever letter comes with it.

What there is to buy

The Certificate$35 USD

One payment. Current for 18 months. Prices are in US dollars. Any sales tax is calculated by Creem and shown at checkout before you pay.

Not a legal document. Canada ESA Register is a private service, not a government body, and no official register of emotional support animals exists in Canada. It does not give you a legal right to keep a pet, to housing, or to access with your animal.

Register your pet for $35
A letter for your landlord, on its own or with the certificate, and gifts

Questions, answered plainly

Do you sell ESA letters?

No, and we will not. We have no clinicians and we ask nothing about your health. A letter only carries weight when it comes from someone who treats you.

Would an ESA letter help with my landlord?

A bought one puts you no further forward. If your animal meets a disability-related need, an accommodation request under your province’s human rights law, supported by your own health professional, can. Otherwise a clear written pet request is the better tool: the free template.

What should a letter from my own professional say?

That is for them to decide. As a general guide, a landlord needs enough to understand that there is a disability-related need and how the animal meets it, not your diagnosis.

Can a letter get my cat or rabbit into an airline cabin?

Not as an emotional support animal. The Canadian Transportation Agency’s conditions cover dogs only, so other animals travel as pets under the carrier’s own policy.

Also worth reading

Canada ESA Register is a private service and is not a government body. No official register of emotional support animals exists in Canada, and emotional support animals have no special status as such in Canadian law. This certificate is a keepsake and a convenience credential for everyday conversations. It creates no right of access to housing, transport, shops or anywhere else, and nobody is obliged to accept it. It is not a guide dog or service dog certificate under any provincial law. Whether you can keep a pet in a rental is decided by your province’s tenancy law, your lease and any condo or strata rules. Canada ESA Register is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.