A New Westminster family says they were denied access to a Port Moody restaurant on New Year’s Day because of their service dog.
John Wynn says his son Matteo, who has autism, has a service dog in training.
Wynn told Global News they arrived at the Boathouse restaurant next to Rocky Point Park, where they had a reservation, and asked for a low table because they have a service dog.
That’s when he says the hostess went to get the manager.
“He basically stated, ‘Well, what was the disability for the dog?'” Wynn said. “So I’m like, OK, well, that’s none of your business.”
Wynn said they have paperwork for the dog, named Bonnie, but they didn’t have it with them. She was wearing a vest that said ‘service dog in training.
“He said, ‘By Fraser Health regulations the dog can’t come in without a government ID’, which I said, ‘Well that one’s a lie’.”
Wynn said they left and he called the Boathouse later and told the manager they were going to file a complaint over what happened.
He said they drove to the Boathouse in New Westminster and got seated with no issues and no questions.
But Wynn said Matteo loves to come to the Port Moody location because he likes to look at the park and the playground with the pirate ship.
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“It’s just made everybody feel like we weren’t welcome,” Wynn said. “This is 2025, you know, he’s got a disability and he’s smarter than all of us but it made us feel like we weren’t welcome and we had to explain to him after what happened and why we weren’t welcome.
“It’s just wrong. You know, it violated Matteo’s rights. Plain, simple. And made us all feel uncomfortable.”
In a statement, Shah Ghani the COO of Boathouse said, “We take this matter very seriously. A thorough investigation is currently underway, and we are committed to taking all appropriate actions to resolve this issue.”
Gillian MacGregor, the government regulations and human resources adviser for the Restaurant and Food Services Association told Global News that the restaurant standard is that if a person appears at a restaurant and asks to eat there with a service dog, they should be allowed to.
“The person doesn’t need to explain their disability,” she said. “They don’t need to produce any certification.”
MacGregor said the dog doesn’t even have to be wearing anything special but it does have to have a demeanor of a service dog.
“Service dogs are generally chosen for their very gentle, very calm demeanour,” she added.
“So a service dog should show that kind of demeanour and be under control. And if the dog acts that way, the person says they’re disabled, they don’t need to say in what way, then the restaurant should by law accept what they are being told and seat the person.”
MacGregor said they don’t hear about these issues very often but it’s important to bring them to light.
Wynn agrees, saying he wanted to speak out to raise awareness.
“In this day and age, things like this shouldn’t happen,” he said.
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