Ladner-based BC & Alberta Guide Dogs (BCAGD), in Delta, BC, founded with support from Rotary Club of Ladner to serve those who are blind and visually impaired, and which now also supports the growing need for companion dogs for children with Autism and for Veterans and First Responders with an Operational Stress Injury, such as PTSD, receives phone calls daily from people seeing a Guide or Service Dog. The current wait lists for professionally trained dogs is three years and demand continues to grow. In response BCAGD has announced plans to develop a new state-of-the-art Breeding & Training Centre. As the first of its kind in Western Canada, the new Centre will immediately increase the availability of Guide and Service Dogs across British Columbia & Alberta, doubling the number of people served.
BCAGD President and CEO William "Bill" Thornton, who became an accredited Guide Dog Mobility Instructor in the U.K. after several years in a police K9 squad, founded Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind in the Ottawa area in 1986, serving as President and CEO for 11 years. In 1996 Bill left that role to move to Ladner and found British Columbia Guide Dog Services with his wife Linda, serving as President and CEO since then. BCAGD founded Alberta Guide Dog Services in 2002. It then established a partnership with Autism Service Dogs, which Bill was instrumental in founding, to help children with Autism aged four to 10 years, and their families. It then formed the Operational Stress Injury/PTSD Service Dog Training Program to support Veterans and First Responders in need. Bill is a Charter Member of the International Guide Dog Federation -- a 98-member global organization founded in 1988 -- which he has served many years as a board director, latterly as board chair. In 2006, Bill received the International Guide Dog Federation Ken Lord Award for exceptional services to the international guide dog movement.
Construction of the new Breeding & Training Centre, at its Ladner Trunk Road location, is planned to start in September 2024 and will continue over the coming year or so. BCAGD will have to relocate its administrative offices during construction -- all breeding, puppy raising and training is handled off site at other facilities and in the homes of volunteers. The new Centre will bring many of these operations on site. Learn more about the new Centre and opportunities to contribute to this valuable local organization, which Rotary Club of Ladner has supported since its early days.
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Guillermo Bustos and President Brian Coe thank Bill Thornton with a donation in his name to The Rotary Foundation's global campaign to rid the world of polio |