According to the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), a standard is a document that provides a set of agreed-upon rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results. Standards establish accepted practices, technical requirements, and terminologies for diverse fields.

Most standards aim to achieve an optimum order in a given context. Because they are easy to recognize and reference, standards enable organizations to ensure that their products or services can be manufactured, implemented and sold worldwide.

Standards can be either voluntary or mandatory:

• Standards are voluntary when organizations are not legally required to follow them. Organizations may choose to follow them to meet customer or industry demands.
• Standards are mandatory when enforced by laws or regulations, often for health or safety reasons.

How Industry Standards Differ from National Standards of Canada (NSC)

Business or organizational standards are private and only apply to those that create them and their members if applicable. Standards in this context refer to standard operational procedures {SOP}. NSCs are not SOPs but a compilation of national mandatory requirements and best practice statements. 

Published NSCs

Published NSCs do not certify service providers or accredit their programs {services, activities, etc.}. 

For example, 'program accreditation' within this industry sector does not refer to an impartial ‘third party’ contractual or governmental accreditation through legislated or regulatory requirements. But instead, a service provider's self-attestation or a peer review process determines whether a business or membership-based organization has met the brand performance, their private SOPs, and recognition criteria. Another way to understand this is to consider the following example outlining the need for adequate insurance coverage. 

• The published NSC stipulates that all Animal-Assisted Human Services businesses ‘shall’ have {are required to have} adequate insurance coverage.
• The business may have a policy that states an objective/SOP concerning what constitutes adequate insurance coverage for their business and the need for adequate coverage.  To achieve this objective (adhere to the policy), the business would have a corresponding SOP that outlines how to get good insurance coverage to achieve its stated purpose. 
• With this in mind, the business or membership-based organization could attest that they comply with this NSC requirement. If a stakeholder asks the business to provide proof, the service provider could present their certificate of insurance from a recognized insurance underwriter. If the business uses an impartial third-party assessor, the assessor will ask the business to provide proof of insurance coverage, e.g., the certificate of insurance.