Calgary nation’s worst place to have a service dog: survey
The speaker of Alberta’s legislature has joked that Quill the service dog is more polite than the 87 MLAs who regularly bark at each other during question period, but not everyone understands the miniature poodle has important work to do.
Despite provincial legislation requiring public facilities and businesses like bars, restaurant and airlines to allow access to qualified service dogs, advocates say the people who require their help are too frequently running into resistance.
It happened last week to interim Wildrose Leader Heather Forsyth, who said she was initially denied entry to an Edmonton restaurant with Quill, a service dog trained to help her with hearing loss.
“We were told, ‘ That dog can’t come in here,’” Forsyth recalled Thursday.
The Calgary- Fish Creek MLA said she tried explaining to the employee that the restaurant was required by law to let her enter with Quill — refusing access can result in a fine of up to $ 3,000 — but she said it was only after she summoned the manager that they were grudgingly allowed to go in and eat.
“They were very rude about the whole thing,” she said.
A recent survey done by Courageous Companions, an organization that provides service dogs to military veterans, rated Calgary as the worst city in Canada to live with a service dog. Owners from Calgary who responded to the survey, which polled 300 service dog owners across the country, reported access issues in 90 per cent of situations. At the other end of the scale, the best city in Canada for service dogs was Winnipeg, where only 5 per cent of respondents reported encountered issues.
Despite Calgary’s abysmal performance in the survey and Forsyth’s unpleasant experience last week, she said she has experienced a growing acceptance for service dogs in the two years she’s had Quill.
“Most people generally are very inquisitive and ask a lot of questions,” Forsyth said.
Quill is trained to alert Forsyth to things she can no longer easily hear, such as doorbells, alerts from appliances and phone calls. Before Quill, Forsyth would have to “lurk by the door” if she was expecting someone to come over or risk missing them, she said.
“Having a service dog has made an immense difference in my life,” she said.
Forsyth said she also carries a government- issued ID card as proof that Quill is a trained and qualified service dog to help smooth over any misunderstandings. Although she said most of her dealings are positive, Forsyth also admitted that she simply steers clear of situations where she anticipates a problem.
“Some of these places I avoid because, quite frankly, it’s a bit of a downer,” she said.
A spokesman for the Canadian Institute for the Blind said that’s not an uncommon sentiment among many visually impaired people who use guide dogs, which are also covered by provincial legislation.
“It’s really hard to statistically say how many people are being turned away,” said Jung- Suk Ryu, the CNIB’s spokesman for Alberta and the N. W. T.
Ryu said Alberta’s legislation and the ID card program are among some “positive steps” lawmakers at various levels have taken to ensure service dogs can do their jobs.
“We all need to work together to raise the level of awareness,” he said.
“When you tell people, they understand. We have more of these conversations than we’d like, but at least we can have those conversations.”