This NSC was developed in accordance with the normative documents listed below, all of which are publicly available. The user of this NSC should refer to the latest edition or revision of the normative documents. Adherence to normative documents is determined and validated during a voluntary third-party conformity assessment.
The extent of compliance may vary depending on the size of an Animal-Assisted Human Services (AAHS) business, the number of employees, which province or territory they are located in, etc. For example, compliance with a Federal Government Act is applicable to federally regulated organizations. However, non-federally regulated organizations can benefit from the principles set out in the Act to improve the quality of their services where possible and work toward related goals within their means in good faith. Another example is the Employment Equity Act. This Act applies to both private and public sector employers within the context of the legislation. Each AAHSP and AASP would need to determine which normative documents directly apply to their business and to what extent, if applicable. These variables and applicability would be taken into consideration during a voluntary third-party conformity assessment.
More information concerning voluntary third-party conformity assessment will be forthcoming.
Accessible Canada Act
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/A-0.6/FullText.html
Canadian Human Rights Act
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/PDF/H-6.pdf
CAN/CSA-Z1003-13/BNQ 9700-803/2013 (R18)
Psychological health and safety in the workplace – Prevention, promotion, and guidance to staged implementation
https://www.csagroup.org/store-resources/documents/codes-and- standards/2421865.pdf
Charities Registration (Security Information) Act
https://lawslois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c27.55/FullText.html#:~:text=2%20(1)%20The%20purpose%20of,maintain%20the%20confidence%20of%20Canadian
Competition Act
https://laws.justice.gc.ca/PDF/C-34.pdf
Criminal Code of Canada – R.S.C., 1985 c.C-46 (Section 445.01)
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-46/FullText.html?txthl=animals#h-123192
Employment Equity Act
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/E-5.401/
Health of Animals Act
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/H-3.3/index.html#hist
Health of Animals Regulations
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/C.R.C.,_c._296/index.html
Income Tax Act
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/I-3.3/
Legislation Focused on Registered Charities
http://sectorsource.ca/managing-organization/working-cra/other-legislation-affecting- charities
Provincial and Territorial Legislation Registered Human Resources Professionals Act, 2013
https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/13r06
Provincial and Territorial Legislation Concerning Farm Animal Welfare https://inspection.canada.ca/animal-health/humane-transport/provincial-and-territorial- legislation/eng/1358482954113/1358483058784
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/pch/documents/services/download-order-charter- bill/canadian-charter-rights-freedoms-eng.pdf
The following Informative documents are meant to help with the conceptual understanding of this NSC. The user of this NSC should refer to the latest edition or revision of these informative documents.
A Code of Practice for Cattery Operations (2009) https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/media/4kucgetu/a-code-of-practice-for-canadian- cattery-operations.pdf
Animal Assisted Intervention International (2019). Standards of Practice https://otaus.com.au/publicassets/80cfd523-2030-ea11-9403-005056be13b5/AAII- Standards-of-Practice.pdf
Animal Learning and Training: Implications for Animal Welfare Sabrina I.C.A. Brando https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22998957/
Animals in Healthcare Facilities: Recommendations to Minimize Potential Risks https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge- core/content/view/7086725BAB2AAA4C1949DA5B90F06F3B/S0899823X1500015Xa.pdf/animals-in-healthcare-facilities-recommendations-to-minimize-potential-risks.pdf
Brelsford, V. L., Dimolareva, M., Gee, N. R., & Meints, K. (2020). Best practice standards in animal-assisted interventions: How the LEAD risk assessment tool can help. Animals, 10(6), 974. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10060974
Canadian Animal Law, September 2021. LexisNexis Canada. ISBN 9780433507017 Author: V. Victoria Shroff
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) https://www.ccohs.ca/topics/legislation/
Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers: https://www.ccpdt.org/about- us/standards-practice-code-ethics/
Canadian Standards of Care in Animal Shelters Supporting ASV Guidelines (2013) https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/documents/canadian-standards-of-care-in- animal-shelters
Canadian Task Force on Animal-Assisted Interventions (2014). Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) Proposed Guidance for Practice for Canada. https://www.academia.edu/42202753/Animal_Assisted_Interventions_AAI_Proposed_Guidance_for_Practice_for_Canada
Cartier Equine Assisted Learning Standard of Practice and Code of Ethics https://www.cartierfarms.ca/standards-of-practice.html
Charity Village https://charityvillage.com/screening-services/#criminalrecord
Code of Conduct Equestrian Canada https://www.equestrian.ca/cdn/storage/resources_v2/qS5ZQvniEcJ55GCTX/original/qS 5ZQvniEcJ55GCTX.pdf
CVMA Humane Training Methods for Dogs – Position Statement https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/documents/humane-training-of- dogs#:~:text=The%20CVMA%20supports%20the%20American,accreditation%20of%20 all%20dog%20trainers
CVMA Presents New Edition of Code of Practice for Canadian Kennel Operations https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/policy-and-outreach/codes-of-practice/
Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA): https://www.eagala.org/assets/docs/Eagala%20Code%20of%20Ethics_revised_&_appr oved_11.7.20.pdf
Human Resource Professionals Association Code of Conduct https://hrpa.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2021/02/Schedule-2-Codes-of-Conduct- Revised-Jan-26.-2021_1.pdf
International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations (IAHAIO). (2018). White Paper: The IAHAIO definitions for animal assisted intervention and guidelines for wellness of animals involved in AAI.
https://iahaio.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/iahaio-white-paper-2018-english.pdf
International Society for Animal Assisted Therapy (ISAAT) Species List https://isaat.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Positive-List-Species_2018-03-08- redlist.pdf
Kerulo, G., Kargas, N., Mills, D. S., Law, G., VanFleet, R., Faa-Thompson, T., & Winkle,M. Y. (2020). Animal-Assisted Interventions: Relationship between standards and qualifications. People and Animals: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 3(1). https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/paij/vol3/iss1/4
La Corporation des Zoothérapeutes du Québec: https://cdn.ca.yapla.com/company/CPYGzbfRWZuqhehXMPPuRWbi/asset/files/code- deontologie-czq.pdf
Mellor, D. J., Beausoleil, N. J., Littlewood, K. E., McLean, A. N., McGreevy, P. D., Jones, B., & Wilkins, C. (2020). The 2020 Five Domains Model: Including human-animal interactions in assessments of animal welfare. Animals, 10(10), 1870. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10101870
National Association for Equine Facilitated Wellness www.equinefacilitatedwellness.org
National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC): Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals https://www.nfacc.ca/codes-of-practice.
Ontario Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/worker_defn.php
Optimal Terminology for Services in the United States that Incorporate Horses to Benefit People: A Consensus Document https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/epdf/10.1089/acm.2020.0415
Order Out of Chaos Revised: A Call for Clear and Agreed-Upon Definitions Differentiating Between Animal-Assisted Interventions https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307908063_Order_Out_of_Chaos_Revised_A_Call_for_Clear_and_AgreedUpon_Definitions_Differentiating_Between_Animal- Assisted_Interventions
Pet Partners https://petpartners.org/act/aacr/
Provincial and Territorial Employment Legislation Standards and Resources https://www.adp.ca/en/resources/compliance-and-legislation/employment-standards-in- canada/provinces-and-territories.aspx
Public perceptions of service dogs, emotional support dogs, and therapy dogs. Schoenfeld-Tacher, R., Hellyer, P., C eung, L., & Kogan, L. (2017). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5486328/
Quality Development and Quality Assurance in Practical Animal-Assisted Interventions https://isaat.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Qualitaetskriterien_e-1.pdf
Rodriguez, K. E., LaFollette, M. R., Hediger, K., Ogata, N., & O’Haire, M. E. (2020). Defining the PTSD service dog intervention: Perceived importance, usage, and symptom specificity of psychiatric service dogs for military veterans. Frontiers in Psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01638
Schlote, S. M. (2009). Animal-assisted therapy and equine-assisted therapy/learning in Canada: Surveying the current state of the field, its practitioners, and its practices. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332864619_Animal- assisted_therapy_and_equine- assisted_therapylearning_in_Canada_Surveying_the_current_state_of_the_field_its_pr actitioners_and_its_practices
Screening Resources Volunteer Canada https://volunteer.ca/screening
Service Dog Industry Study https://cf4aass.ca/application/files/5516/6774/6851/cnd_service_dog_industry_study_nov_2020.pdf
Society for Companion Animal Studies (2019). Terminology. http://www.scas.org.uk/animal-assisted-interventions/174-2/
Stewart, L. A., Chang, C. Y., Parker, L. K., & Grubbs, N. (2016). Animal-assisted therapy in counseling competencies. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association, Animal-Assisted Therapy in Mental Health Interest Network. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/competencies/animal-assisted-therapy- competencies-june-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=c469472c_14
The Animal Welfare Science of Working Dogs: Current Perspectives on Recent Advances and Future Directions https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fvets.2021.666898/full
The Federation of Horses in Education and Therapy International (HETI): https://hetifederation.org/resources/ethical-guidelines/
The General Principles of Management Systems. Jonathan Brun and John Wolf (2019) https://nimonik.com/2019/03/the-general-principles-of-management-systems/
Van Houtert, E. A. E., Endenburg, N., Wijnker, J. J., Rodenburg, B., & Vermetten, E. (2018). The study of service dogs for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder: A scoping literature review. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 9 (Suppl 3): 1518199. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6866726/
VanFleet, R., & Faa-Thompson, T. (2017). Animal Assisted Play Therapy. Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press.
https://www.academia.edu/43147492/Animal_Assisted_Play_Therapy_book
Whitworth, J. D., Scotland-Coogan, D., and Wharton, T. (2019). Service dog training programs for veterans with PTSD: Results of a pilot-controlled study. Soc. Work Health Care 58, 412–430 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30875483/
Workplace Health and Safety Virtual Library https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/
Zoothérapie Québec. A portrait. https://zootherapiequebec.ca