TORONTO - Canadian schools that train guide dogs for the blind are feeling the effects of the global recession - a downturn experts fear could end up scuttling precious growth in a charitable industry that has only recently gained traction north of the border.
Canada's guide-dog schools are unlike their more established, better-known cousins in the U.S., where a higher profile and more solid financial footing allows them to raise more money and match more dog teams in one year than all four of the internationally accredited Canadian schools combined.
Like most of their North American counterparts, Canadian schools fund their costly programs exclusively through charitable donations, which have declined in recent months - especially in the corporate category as businesses re-evaluate their spending priorities.
While donations from loyal individuals remain strong, top officials at Canadian guide dog schools fear the lag could slow their momentum, which had been growing prior to the economic downturn.
"There are schools that are struggling now, the smaller schools particularly," said Sandy Turney, executive director of Guide Dogs Canada in Oakville, Ont.
"We have different sources of funds, but it's a tough go for people. . . . I think in Canada we really were on a good growth path. It's just whether we can keep it up across the country."
Canada was a latecomer to the international guide dog movement, which took shape in Europe in the 1920s and first reached North America in 1929. Canada's first school dedicated to the training of dogs for the blind did not open its doors until 1981, when Eric St-Pierre founded the Mira Foundation, located near Montreal.
Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind matched its first teams in 1984 at its training centre 30 minutes south of Ottawa, while Oakville's Guide Dogs Canada launched its program in 1985 with the assistance of the Lion's Foundation. BC Guide Dog Services, which caters only to clients living in British Columbia and Alberta, was founded in 1996.
All four organizations have since won accreditation from the International Guide Dog Federation and have similar credentials to schools that have been established for decades.
But Bill Thornton, chief executive of BC Guide Dogs, said Canadian schools have struggled to attract clientele away from the American organizations who had the market cornered for years.
"Everyone who had got a dog in the (United) States just went back," Thornton said. "People had already been to a college, they tend to go back there because, generally speaking, I think people have a good experience."
Newer schools faced the dual challenge of building a client base and attracting donations to fund their services, which are expensive.
Part of the philosophy is to ensure cost doesn't prevent blind people from obtaining a guide dog, which is why the schools provide their services free of charge or for a nominal fee despite consensus estimates that suggest the value of a typical guide dog starts at $20,000.
All four Canadian schools acknowledge they are unable to raise the same amount of money as their American counterparts, a circumstance Thornton attributes in part to Canada's smaller population and limited number of wealthy foundations.
"It takes us longer to move forward because our revenue opportunities ... are much more difficult," he said. "Canadians are wonderfully generous, but there's just not as many of us to put money into those programs."
Revenue figures highlight the disparity between schools on either side of the border.
In fiscal 2008, Canadian schools together raised a combined $14 million - a fraction of the $23.1 million raised during the same period by The Seeing Eye in Morristown, N.J., North America's oldest guide dog school.
Revenue influenced the number of dogs each school could train in a year - the Seeing Eye paired off 263 dogs and clients last fiscal year, while Canadian schools made about half as many matches.
Despite the inherent challenges of running such an organization in Canada, the four schools forged ahead with expansion plans to improve the quality of their services. But momentum slowed across the board as the recession took hold.
Mira's St-Pierre said his staff must work harder to raise the same amount of money, adding he has been forced to shelve any future development plans until economic conditions improve.
Turney said the dip in corporate donations has seen her school rely more heavily on individual gifts and bequests.
Thornton has devoted his limited resources to boosting his school's fundraising efforts, hiring a director of development and attempting to strengthen the organization's brand in the western provinces.
Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, meanwhile, has experienced a dip in the number of applicants, said chief executive Jane Thornton, Bill Thornton's ex-wife. Her school may start training other types of service animals, such as those that help deaf or autistic clients, to offset the decline, she added.
One thing none of Canada's schools is prepared to do is give up.
The average working life of a guide dog is about eight years, and schools say they must be prepared to meet the demands of their returning students by having the resources in place to train replacement canine partners.
The cyclical needs of their clients, coupled with the tangible improvements they provide to the lives of blind people, gives Canadian schools the impetus to work through adverse economic circumstances, Bill Thornton said.
"We can't just run around like rabbits and be frightened and do nothing," he said. "We just have to continue."
