May 30, 2019

On Monday, May 27, Dr. Panagiota (Nota) Klentrou, CSEP Board of Directors Chair presented to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health. The committee is studying the level of fitness and physical activity of youth in Canada to provide recommendations to the House of Commons. CSEP was honoured to be invited to address this important issue and contribute to the committee’s study.

Despite the research showing the significant health implications linked to childhood inactivity we are seeing more and more what used to be everyday, natural fitness opportunities fade away. In the presentation Dr. Klentrou emphasized the importance of the federal government playing a leadership role in fostering longterm collaborative efforts to design physical activity back into the lives of all Canadians. We believe that with federal support, and engaging traditional and non-traditional sectors, we can create a fundamental societal change that will have a profound impact on generations to come.

Specifically, CSEP provided three recommendations to bring the goals outlined in the Common Vision report, a national policy on physical activity released in May 2018, to life:

  1. Commitment to sustained funding for the wider adoption and promotion of the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines
  2. Continued support for the development of evidence-based guidelines and population health measurement tools.
  3. For the government to take steps to normalize healthy physical activity in the daily lives of all Canadians

To learn more listen to the testimony (CSEP presentation starts at 16:37), read the brief CSEP prepared for the committee and read more about Private Members Motion M-206.

The report from the committee titled Get Canada’s Youth Moving! was presented on June 17, 2019. Read the release and view the full report with recommendations that our presentation helped inform.

We look forward to continuing to work with the federal government and other partners to bring the goals outlined in the Common Vision Report to life, and to meet these challenges head on.

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