Rambling About Guide Dog Accessibility

   As a guide dog user, one of the most common questions I am asked by little kids is "does he get to come with you (insert place, usually school)?"   In Canada we have federal and provincial legislation that allows a licenced service dog and handler to enter any public building, area, and vehicle. No charge can be posed on the handler for accomidations made for the service dog. The only time a handler can be charged is if their service dog causes damage.
   Usually places are vary accomidating and have no problem. I have found West Jet to be the most accomidating airline here in Canada, I've never had any problem with them. In fact I just have to go to the ticket agent and say I have a service dog and they immediately put me in the Bulkhead seats and move one of the other passengers so I have two seats worth of floor room for my guide dog.
   I could go on a rant for hours about all of the businesses who have attempted to prevent my Guide Dog from entering, but here I'm only going to mention one.
   A few weeks ago I was in Timmies (Tim Haurtens) with a friend. We had gone to the offleash park with our dogs and were warming up with a cup of hot chocolate before heading home. My friend (who can see) went to the counter to order our drinks as it was vary crowded, and when she came back to our table she had a vary interesting story to tell.
   She had gone up to the counter, and one of the attendents had told her that there were no dogs allowed. My friend explained how my dog is a service dog and is allowed in public buildings etc. The attendent was skepticle but said ok. My friend, who was getting tired of this happening (another person had tried to kick us out of the same Timmies a few weeks before), decided to ask one of the police officers who were there  on their break.
   The officer who she approached said that it was the business owners decision as to whether a service animal is aloud in their business.
   This is not true. I couldn't believe that a Police officer who is sworn to protect us and our rights didn't know this fundamental law of accessibility that makes Canada such a good place to live.
   Sure this officer was one out of thousands, just as the Timmies was one of thousands, and they just don't know the laws. And it is offten my job to educate them so that another guide dog team won't encounter the same problems, but I never thought in my wildest dreams that I'd be educating our police officers about our laws.
   Ok, rant over.
Melissa