Notification of Draft National Standard of Canada
CAN/HRSO-500.01-2022 DEVELOPMENT OF A MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ANIMAL-ASSISTED

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Audio Version
An audio version of the draft National Standard of Canada is available upon request.
To request this version, please email community@cf4aass.org.
A password and a page link to download the draft audio file will be provided. To submit content-related comments, please respond to this same email message.
Alternatively...
To access the audio file directly, please use the following link  https://orionhra.egnyte.com/dl/Ozp2Cnv3Ly
The password is 9KxR4rvdyTpE  
In either case, please email content-related comments to community@cf4aass.org. This link will expire on July 16. 

Thank you to HRSO for sponsoring the audio version of the draft NSC. With Appreciation! ​The Canadian Foundation for Animal-Assisted Support Services (CFAS)
For more information, please click on the following link https://www.cf4aass.org/accessibility-and-accommodation.html

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What are the National Standards of Canada? (NSC)
National Standards of Canada (NSCs) are NOT policies, guidelines, procedures, accreditation, or certification programs. National Standards of Canada (NSCs) ARE expressed through requirements based on relevant legislation and regulations (e.g., Normative References) and public sector policies, guidelines, and other sources such as relevant publications, articles, and journals that reflect the current industry sector practices commonly referred to as Informative References. Research publications may also provide insight into existing gaps and systemic issues.

Types of National Standards of Canada (NSC)
There are many types of standards:

• Performance standards test products by simulating their performance under actual service conditions.
• Prescriptive standards identify product characteristics, such as material thickness, type, and dimension.
• Design standards identify specific design or technical characteristics of a product.
• Management system standards define and establish an organization’s quality policy and objective.
• Service standards specify the requirements to be fulfilled and establish its fitness for purpose. Service standards may be prepared in laundering, hotel-keeping, transportation, car-servicing, telecommunications, trading, and insurance and banking. For more information, please visit: https://www.scc.ca/en/types-standards  

About the Draft NSC
The draft NSC currently under public review is a Management system standard that defines and establishes an Animal-Assisted Human Service Provider (AAHSP) business for quality governance and administrative policy and objectives. Once published, adopting the NSC, whether a business believes that they meet or exceed the NSC, would provide a distinct marketplace advantage because the NSC comprises national benchmarks developed through a Consensus-Oriented Decision Making (CODM) process with multiple stakeholders across Canada. All other industry sector standards are considered private and are only applicable to their members or the business that developed them. 

Animal-Assisted Human Services
Animal-Assisted Human Services (AAHS), also commonly referred to as Animal-Assisted Services (AAS), has evolved into a rapidly growing, highly fragmented, and competitive marketplace. Contrary to popular belief, AAHs are not governed by the public sector.

This NSC provides a basis for establishing consistent, well-balanced, detailed, and essential Canadian procedural requirements for all Animal-Assisted Human Service Providers (AAHSP businesses), whether individuals or organizations, for-profit or not-for-profit, held publicly or not privately, engaged in the business AAHS. Please note that requirements tell a business how to fulfill the requirements, but rather point out what is essential to determine within their scope of practice and any laws pertaining to their businesses. 

Benefits
Some of the many benefits of adopting this NSC are to:

• enhance public confidence,
• safeguard consumer and human rights,
• guard the health and welfare of Human Service Assistance Animals (HSAA), and
• promote continuity and innovation across Canada.

This NSC is also an incentive that encourages a third-party conformity assessment program to cultivate a national credibility chain to endorse and sustain service excellence.

For more information concerning this initiative, please visit https://www.cf4aass.org/notices-of-intent.html. Thank you for contributing to the success of this ground-breaking NSC by sharing your constructive comments.

Note!
Please note this page will be updated with new content as it becomes available. Thank you for your input.

Frequently Asked Questions Responses

• Safeguarding consumer and human rights and the health and welfare of the animals motivated the development of this NSC. 
• The NSC provides consumers with the information they may want to consider when choosing the most appropriate services to meet their needs and personal goals. 
• The NSC requirements also cite the importance of preserving and protecting their client’s personal information and privacy. 
• A core principle of developing NSC is the significance of equitable, diverse, and inclusive multi-stakeholder engagement, respecting all the participants' rights to be heard and sharing responsibilities.
• This NSC is about establishing a national administrative and governance management system of Animal-Assisted Human Service (AAHS) with the businesses and other stakeholders to map out doable and essential requirements and provide a benchmark for best practices. 
• The NSC applies to the business enterprises that conduct Animal-Assisted Human Services (AAHS) in the marketplace. Adoption of the NSC once it's published is voluntary. NSCs become mandatory if or when referenced in government legislation and regulations.
• Terms like consumer and disability are provided in addition to several other industry sector-related terms and definitions to develop a common language.
• Examples of other stakeholders that may find the NSC useful are various levels of government within corresponding sectors, grantmakers, private donors, and/or corporate sponsors.
• The NSC does not standardize the breeds of animals but highlights that the businesses need to adhere to legislation within their respective jurisdictions. Concerns related to breeds or animal species go beyond the scope of this NSC.
  
• Living documents such as the National Standards of Canada (NSC) are subject to periodic review. Therefore, they may be revised to keep the NSC current and relevant.   ​

A picture of an inclusive community.

More About Normative and Informative References 
As noted earlier, Normative and Informative documents are also referred to as seed documents. National Standards of Canada (NSCs) ARE expressed through requirements based on current normative references such as regulations, policies, guidelines, and informative references like publications, articles, journals, and seed documents.  The seed documents pertinent to this NSC  informed the Technical Committee when drafting the standard. Seed documents are cited along with their corresponding links in either the Normative Reference Section or the Informative Reference Section of the NSC.