GoPaw Canada › Insurance & checks
Insurance and background checks
What every GoPaw Canada provider must have on file before their first booking — and, just as importantly, what GoPaw does and does not do with it.
Status: GoPaw Canada has not launched. Bookings are closed and provider sign-up is closed. This page describes how the service is built and what it will require. Nothing on this page is an offer of service.
GoPaw Canada is built around one rule that applies right across Canada: a provider cannot accept a booking until the documents below are on file. This page sets out exactly what is required and — just as important — what GoPaw does and does not do with those documents.
What a provider must have on file
| Requirement | Detail | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial general liability insurance | $2,000,000, held in the provider's own name, with animal bailee cover added to the same policy — a minimum of $10,000 per animal | Provider |
| Criminal record check | Enhanced Canadian criminal record check, completed before the first booking | Provider |
| Identity verification | Government photo ID matched to a live selfie | Provider |
| Municipal kennel licence | Required only of providers offering licensed kennel stays, and only where the municipality issues one | Provider |
| Commercial auto insurance | Required only of providers offering veterinary transport | Provider |
Why commercial general liability, and why animal bailee on top of it
These are two different triggers and they are constantly confused.
- Commercial general liability answers for bodily injury or property damage to a third party — the passer-by a dog bites on a walk. On a dog-walking platform this is the likeliest claim of all.
- Animal bailee cover answers for the customer's own animal. A commercial general liability policy on its own excludes it: a pet is property in your care, custody and control, and that is precisely what the standard wording carves out.
A provider who holds only one of the two has a gap. That is why GoPaw Canada requires one policy carrying both.
What “insurance on file” means
GoPaw records that this provider has given us a certificate or declarations page showing a policy of insurance and an expiry date, and we pause the provider's profile if that date passes without a replacement document. That is all we do.
What we do not do. We do not verify with the insurer that the policy is in force, that premiums have been paid, or that it has not been cancelled. We do not assess whether the limits, sub-limits, deductibles, coverage extensions or exclusions are adequate for any service, any pet or any customer. We give no advice about insurance and we are not licensed to do so.
What this means for you. GoPaw does not undertake to protect you against the risk that a provider's insurance is insufficient or does not respond to a claim. Ask the provider directly for a current certificate of insurance. Providers are independent businesses; GoPaw is not their insurer, guarantor or broker.
What this costs a provider
Providers are independent businesses and carry their own costs, as any independent business does. Budget roughly $400 to $800 in the first year for the policy and the checks together. The policy is in your own name and stays with you — it is not tied to GoPaw and it covers your work wherever you do it.
GoPaw Canada does not sell, arrange or recommend insurance, does not receive any referral fee or commission from any insurer, and is not licensed to give insurance advice. Where to buy the policy is entirely your choice.
The requirement is not scoped to the service
Registration asks for the policy first, before a provider chooses which services they offer. Cover is a condition of joining GoPaw Canada, not a condition attached to a particular booking, and it applies to every provider on the platform.
What GoPaw Canada does not verify
- We do not verify training certifications. Trainers on the platform are described as independent trainers, not certified ones.
- We do not verify with an insurer that a policy remains in force after the document is filed. We track the expiry date on the document itself.
- We do not rate, grade or approve providers’ insurance limits.
- We do not source, arrange or recommend insurance. We state the coverage a provider must hold; where they buy it is their decision.
Every one of these is a deliberate limit on what we claim, written this way so the claim is accurate.
Where this applies
Across Canada, outside Quebec. Quebec is excluded at launch for consumer-protection and language-of-service reasons that are being worked through separately.