SUMMARY

Short Title

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Assistance Animals Framework for Veterans Act.

Interpretation

Definitions

2 The following definitions apply in this Act.

animal-assisted service means

• (a) a service that prepares, places or otherwise provides an assistance animal that has been trained to perform a task to assist a person with a disability, as defined in section 2 of the Accessible Canada Act, with a need related to their disability; and

• (b) an animal-assisted intervention, including activities and therapy.‍ (service assisté par des animaux)

Minister means the Minister of Veterans Affairs.‍ (ministre)

Framework on Animal-assisted Services for Veterans

Development

3 (1) The Minister must, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, such as animal-assisted service providers and the appropriate advisory groups of the Department of Veterans Affairs, develop and implement a framework to enhance the provisions of animal-assisted services to veterans.

Considerations

(2) In developing the framework, the Minister must take into consideration

• (a) the Minister’s mandate relating to the care, treatment or re-establishment in civil life of veterans by, among other things, providing services and assistance to members and veterans who have been injured as a result of military service;

• (b) recommendations made by the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs in its sixth report, Incorporating Service Dogs into the Rehabilitation Program of Veterans Affairs Canada, adopted on June 10, 2022 and presented to the House of Commons on June 16, 2022;

• (c) gaps in health care coverage and programs in relation to veterans accessing animal-assisted services; and

• (d) the benefits and advantages to having a harmonized approach to animal-assisted services for veterans across Canada.

Content

(3) The framework must

• (a) provide for structured processes and standards for animal-assisted services provided to veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs, including standards in respect of the documentation that the Department of Veterans Affairs may require to support a request by a veteran for animal-assisted services;

• (b) integrate the requirements set out in the National Standard of Canada CAN/HRSO – 500.‍01, Development of a Management System for Animal-Assisted Human Services, with respect to third-party accreditation requirements in relation to animal-assisted service providers;

• (c) identify mechanisms to evaluate animal-assisted service providers’ compliance with the standards established under paragraph (a), such as oversight by an independent entity; and

• (d) establish clear objectives and timelines, as well as other measures to monitor the implementation of the framework.

Reports to Parliament

Tabling of framework

4 (1) Within 12 months after the day on which this Act comes into force, the Minister must prepare a report setting out the framework and cause the report to be tabled in each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the report is completed.

Publication

(2) The Minister must publish the report on the website of the Department of Veterans Affairs within 10 days after the day on which it has been tabled in both Houses of Parliament.

Independent review

5 (1) Five years after the day on which the report is tabled under subsection 4(1) in both House of Parliament, the Minister must cause an independent review of the framework to be conducted, and must cause a report on the review to be laid before each House of Parliament on any of the first 15 days on which that House is sitting after the review is completed.

Publication

(2) The Minister must publish the report on the review on the website of the Department of Veterans Affairs within 10 days after the day on which it has been tabled in both Houses of Parliament.