Scheme rules v1.0

What this register is

Canada ESA Register is a private register, run privately. It is not a public register, it has no statutory basis, and nobody is obliged to consult it or to accept anything issued from it. There is no official Canadian register of emotional support animals, so this one is not a copy of one.

An entry is made when someone tells us about their animal and pays for the entry to be made. That is the whole of it, and the documents say so in those words.

What an entry evidences

This record certifies only that the details in fields 1 to 6 were supplied to this register and entered on the date shown. It does not certify that those details are accurate, and no check of them has been carried out.

We carry out no check of any kind on the information supplied. We do not meet the animal, contact a veterinarian, verify a microchip, assess training or temperament, or ask for proof of anything. Where a document has to record one of those, it records that it was not done.

What an entry does not evidence

These are printed on the certificate itself, in the same type as everything else, because a limit set in smaller type than the claim it limits is not a disclosure.

• 13. Public access rights conferred by this record: None.
• 14. Guide or service dog certification under provincial law: None.
• 15. Training or temperament assessed by this register: None.
• 16. Veterinary examination: Not carried out.

The documents

Two are issued for every entry, and they are separate files so you can print one without touching the other. The certificate carries the register reference, a link to the public lookup, the date and time of the entry, and the limits above in full. The card carries the reference, a QR code to the lookup, the date of the entry, “Not a legal document” and “Rights conferred: None”, and points to these rules for the rest.

• Register entry, form CAESA/RE/01 is one letter-size sheet, in three blocks. The record: the details supplied to this register. The entry: who made the entry, in what capacity, and when. The limits: what the entry does not evidence, which is part of the record.
• Register card, form CAESA/RC/01 is bank-card size (85.6 × 54 mm), landscape, two faces, with the fields set out below.

Entered by the operator of this register, acting in the capacity of keeper of its own private record. Produced by system; no signature is applied.

The landlord letter and pet resume, whether bought with the certificate or on their own, are not part of the register record, and the public lookup does not show them.

The certificate’s numbered fields

Fields 1 to 6 are what was supplied to us: 1 animal, 2 species and breed, 3 date of birth as declared, 4 photograph, 5 registered keeper, 6 town or city. The single word Entered divides the sheet. Fields 7a to 10 are the act of entering it: 7a on what date, 7b by whom, 7c in what capacity, 8 register number, 9 where it can be checked, 10 current until. Fields 13 onward are the limits, under a rule in the one colour we reserve for them, ending with field 17, the notice.

That division is the point of the form. It keeps “this animal is such-and-such” and “somebody told us so on a date” visibly apart, which is the distinction this product must never blur.

The card’s fields

Every field on the card is labelled in words, and none is numbered, because a numbered card reads as an identity document whatever the words beside the numbers say, and this card is not one. The front names the issuer as “a private register”, and the back says in its largest type that the card is not a legal document and confers no rights. It carries no government name, symbol or colour.

• Front: the issuer, animal, keeper, register number, species and breed, date of birth as declared, entered, current until, the status of the entry, the photograph twice (once small and faded), and a QR code to the public lookup.
• Back: issuing body, scheme rules, status (“Not a legal document”), rights conferred (“None”), and verification, with the lookup address written out.

How long an entry lasts

An entry stays current for 18 months from the day it is made. After that the public check shows it as expired, and a new entry can be made for the same pet. Nothing is charged automatically and no card details are kept, so nothing renews by itself.

The date it runs out is printed on the certificate as field 10 and on the card beside “Current until”, and the public lookup shows it too. Expiry is read from that date rather than stored as a status: a status would be wrong from the moment the date passed until something corrected it, and the thing that would be wrong is the page a stranger is looking at.

An expired entry is not deleted and is not the same as a refunded one. It reads as expired, its documents stay downloadable, and a new entry can be made for the same animal at any time, as a new purchase.

The lookup shows the entry as it stands now, and the certificate shows it as it stood when it was issued. If those ever disagree, the lookup is the register and the paper is a copy of it, which is why every document carries the date and time it was taken.

When an entry stops being active

A refund marks the entry inactive, and the public lookup says so. We do not delete it, because a reference that silently disappears tells whoever is checking nothing, and a reference that reads “inactive” tells them the truth.

You can also ask us to make an entry inactive at any time, refund or no refund. Write to [email protected].

Changes to these rules

These rules are versioned, and the version in force when your entry was made is printed on your documents. We do not apply changes retrospectively to entries already issued. The wider position is set out on our disclaimer page, and the contract is in our terms.