ACCESSIBILITY AT SISKINDS

 

Siskinds LLP (“Siskinds”) is committed to serving people with disabilities who use service animals. The purpose of this procedure is to provide guidelines regarding the use of service animals by people with disabilities when accessing our legal services.

 

 

This procedure applies to every person with a disability who uses a service animal. This procedure also applies to every person interacting with members of the public or other third parties on behalf of Siskinds, whether a partner, lawyer, employee or independent contractor.

 

 

Disability means:

a)   Any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, a brain injury, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical co-ordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a guide dog or other animal or on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device,

b)   A condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability,

c)   A learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language,

d)   A mental disorder, or

e)   An injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.

 

The foregoing definition includes disabilities of differing severity, whether visible or non-visible and whether temporary or permanent in nature.

 

Service Animal means any animal that is specifically trained to assist a person with a disability, where it is either readily apparent that the animal is used by the person for reasons relating to his/her disability (e.g. a hearing dog wearing a harness), or the person provides a letter from a physician or nurse confirming that the person requires the animal for reasons relating to the disability. For greater certainty, a service animal includes a dog that has been trained at one of the facilities listed in Ontario Regulation 58 under the Blind Persons Rights’ Act to act as a guide dog for people who are blind.

Identifying Service Animals

Service animals are typically recognized by a harness or a sign. If it is not readily apparent that the animal is used by the person for reasons related to his/her disability, the Siskinds representative may request that the person with the disability provides a letter from a physician or nurse confirming that the person requires the animal for reasons relating to the disability. 

Examples of service animals include, but are not limited to:

Service animals are working animals. They are not considered pets. For this reason, they are not to be treated like a pet. When a person with a service animal is attempting to access our legal services, the Siskinds representative should not:

The person with the service animal will be responsible for maintaining the care and control of the animal at all times while accessing our legal services. This includes keeping control of the animal while present on the property, and cleaning any messes created by the service animal on Siskinds property.

It is Siskinds duty to provide the greatest amount of accommodation for the person with the service animal; however, this should not be at the expense of another person. In all situations where a person announces that he/she is allergic to a service animal, Siskinds representatives should discuss the situation with the affected person(s) and make every effort to meet the needs of all parties. 

If a Siskinds representative is allergic to a service animal, the representative will:

If a member of the public or a third party is allergic to a service animal, the Siskinds representative will seek an alternate location to provide our legal services to the person with the service animal, or invite the person with the allergy to wait in a different location until the person with the service animal has vacated the area of service. If being relocated to an alternate location would provide greater accommodation for the person with the service animal, the Siskinds representative will invite the person with the service animal to relocate.