New policy on Dogs on the Kanata Nordic Ski Club Trails

Dogs are not permitted on Kanata Nordic’s cross-country ski or snowshoe trails. They compromise the safety of skiers on the trails and in parking lots, impair grooming quality, leave waste on the trails and conflict with the animal policy of one of our key land partners.

The only exception to this policy is for dogs fully certified as sight or support assistance dogs in accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. If that applies to you, please contact Kanata Nordic’s administrator for more details in advance of bringing your certified sight or support dog to the trail network. Emotional support animals are not service animals.

For those of you wanting to walk with your dog, we groom over 21 kilometres of public multi-use trails on the OWWT (Ottawa West Winter Trail) that does permit dogs on leash on their winter trail network. Even there, you must clean up after them – brown wax remains the worst wax…

Definition of a service animal

According to the AODA’s Customer Service Standards, one of two conditions must apply for your animal to be considered a service animal:

1) the animal is easily identifiable as relating to your disability (for example, it is a guide dog or other animal wearing a vest or harness)

2) you can provide documentation from a regulated health professional confirming the animal is required due to a disability

If your guide dog/service animal does not wear a vest or harness, you must show documentation from one of these regulated health professionals:

audiologist or speech-language pathologist
chiropractor
nurse
occupational therapist
optometrist
physician or surgeon
physiotherapist
psychologist
psychotherapist or mental health therapist