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Canada ESA Register
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Emotional support animal registration in Canada

A certificate, a wallet card and a number anyone can check, for $35 once. Before you buy it, here is the part most registries put in the small print.

What an emotional support animal is, in plain words

Before anything else

There is no official Canadian register, ours included

No government in Canada, federal or provincial, registers emotional support animals. There is no statutory scheme, no application and no list to be accepted onto. Every registry is a private business keeping its own records, and that is what ours is.

Emotional support animals also have no special status as such in Canadian law. Where provinces recognise dogs in legislation, as British Columbia does under its Guide Dog and Service Dog Act and Alberta under its Service Dogs Act, it is trained guide and service dogs they recognise. An emotional support animal is a different thing, and no registration turns one into the other.

So a registration cannot make a landlord, an airline or a hotel accept your pet. Anyone selling you one on that basis is selling you something that does not exist.

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

What you actually get

A letter-size certificate with your pet’s photo, details and a unique register number, and a register card at true bank-card size carrying the same number and a QR code.

Both arrive by email as separate PDFs within about a minute of paying, so you can print one without touching the other. The number stays checkable at a public lookup page for 18 months, and the date it runs to is printed on both documents.

Why it is one payment

A registration that renews itself every year costs far more over a dog’s life than it seemed to, and it arrives whether you thought about it or not.

An entry here is current for eighteen months, and then it stops. Nothing is charged when it does, because no card details are kept. If you want another, you buy another, and that is a decision rather than a subscription.

If you are renting, read this instead

If the reason you are looking at registration is a landlord, the registration is not your tool. In Ontario, a no-pets clause in a lease is void once you are a tenant. In British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia the lease decides, and a specific written request with references is what gives a landlord a reason to say yes. The free pet request letter template is a good place to start.

If your animal meets a disability-related need, the route that can matter is an accommodation request under your province’s human rights law, supported by the health professional who treats you. What a letter can and cannot do.

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

Will registration give my pet legal rights?

No. Nothing sold by us or by anyone else creates a legal right in Canada, because there is no official register and emotional support animals have no special status as such in Canadian law.

Do I need a letter from a doctor first?

No, and we do not sell one. We ask nothing about your health at any point. If you ever need documentation, for a human rights accommodation request or to fly with an emotional support dog, it has to come from a health professional who treats you, not from a registry.

How long does it take?

About two minutes to fill in, and the documents arrive by email within about a minute of paying.

Can I buy it for someone else?

Yes, as a gift code they redeem themselves. We cannot sell to buyers in Quebec at the moment.

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.