Service Animal Policy for LCBO
The LCBO is committed to providing an accessible and inclusive experience for customers accessing LCBO information, products, facilities and services, while respecting the dignity and independence of persons with disabilities.
The LCBO welcomes customers with service animals provided they do not pose a health and safety risk to our customers and employees.
Definition:
Service animals are animals, typically dogs, trained to help people with disabilities maintain independence. For example, they perform tasks, such as:
- Guiding a blind or visually impaired handler around obstacles
- Alerting a handler with diabetes about low blood sugar levels
- Protecting a handler with epilepsy during seizures
- Calming a handler with autism in an environment with too much sensory stimulation
- Retrieving out-of-reach objects for a handler with a physical disability
- Alerting a handler who is deaf or hard of hearing about sounds
All service providers that operate premises open to the public, or to third parties that serve the public, must welcome service animals. They must allow customers with disabilities to keep their service animals with them anywhere they need to go, except in places where the law excludes service animals.
Identification
There are two ways that we can tell whether or not a customer’s animal is a service animal:
- It is visibly apparent that the customer requires the animal for reasons relating to disability; or
- the customer provides an identification card, or a letter from a healthcare practitioner, confirming that the customer requires the animal for reasons relating to a disability
While service animals are not required to wear harnesses, signs or vests that identify them as such, in the absence of this identification our staff are instructed to request the appropriate documentation. In asking for documentation for service animals not wearing identification, the intent is not to cause upset or embarrassment but rather to ensure diligence in adherence to the law, specifically subsection 80.45 (4) of Ontario Regulation 191/11 (Integrated Accessibility Standards), and to protect the health and safety of all our customers.
If it is not visibly apparent that the customer requires the animal for reasons related to a disability, documentation, including identification card or a letter from one of these regulated health professionals must be presented that indicates the customer requires the animal for reasons related to a disability:
- audiologist or speech-language pathologist
- chiropractor
- nurse
- occupational therapist
- optometrist
- physician or surgeon
- physiotherapist
- psychologist
- psychotherapist or mental health therapist
Customers are allowed to bring service animals into areas that are open to the public unless the animal is excluded by another law. (Some municipalities may also have by-laws restricting certain breeds of animals or dogs from the municipality.)
In cases where another law prohibits service animals from entering the premises or should the customer not be willing to comply with the above, they are welcome to shop our wide assortment of products on LCBO.com or, one of our Customer Service Representatives may be able to help the customer on-demand by gathering their order from our shelves. The latter is the discretion of the manager as they see fit.
