ParticipACTION

The ParticipACTION logo

ParticipACTION is a Canadian non-profit charitable organization and an enduring part of Canada’s physical activity history, encouraging people to get healthy by getting active since 1971.^[1] Through its award-winning public education campaigns, best-in-class thought leadership and innovative engagement initiatives, the organization is working to build a more resilient and accessible culture of movement by removing barriers and creating opportunities for everyone living in Canada to make room to move in their daily lives. With a mission to help people move more where they live, learn, work and play, ParticipACTION envisions a Canada where physical activity is a vital part of everyday life for everyone.  

As Canada’s premier physical activity organization, ParticipACTION works with its partners, which include organizations within the sport, physical activity and recreation sector, alongside government and corporate sponsors, to help people living in Canada be more physically active by:

• Inspiring and supporting people to make physical activity a vital part of their everyday lives;

• Reducing barriers to physical activity so that people can make room to move in their daily lives;

• Identifying and providing opportunities for movement through engagement initiatives and thought leadership;

• Championing the need for Canada to make physical activity a national priority through collaborative advocacy efforts that aim to drive policy changes and promote a more active and healthier society;  

• Conducting, synthesizing and disseminating research and knowledge about physical activity, sport participation and sedentary behaviour.

Activities

To support its mission and vision, ParticipACTION runs a variety of programs and initiatives, including the following:

• The ParticipACTION Report Cards on Physical Activity, the most comprehensive assessments of physical activity in Canada. They synthesize data from multiple sources, including the best available peer-reviewed research, to assign evidence-informed grades across several indicators;

• The ParticipACTION Community Challenge, a national physical activity and sport initiative that encourages everyone in Canada to get active in search of the most active communities in the country, awarding them funding to support local sport and physical activity initiatives;

• The Sneak It In Challenge, a digital physical activity challenge that encourages people to sneak in small bouts of physical activity throughout their day.

• The Make Room to Move Challenge, a digital physical activity challenge that helps people kickstart the new year with healthy, active habits.

History

ParticipACTION emerged from Sport Participation Canada, a non-profit organization formed on July 12, 1971 in response to a 1969 study commissioned by the National Advisory Council for Fitness and Amateur Sport that found that the future of Canadian health was at risk from poor physical fitness and apathy on the part of Canadians.Council Chair Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien recommended that the Government of Canada provide seed money for an independent agency with public and private funding that would work to promote physical fitness.Lou Lefaive from Sport Canada was assigned to assist in its founding.Marketing consultant Keith McKerracher was appointed to lead the new organization.

Former Prime Minister of Canada Lester B. Pearson chaired the board from 1971 to 1972, while Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien served as president.In 1972, the company was nationalized by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to battle exorbitant health-care costs. The resulting government program was renamed ParticipACTION.

A 1973 commercial comparing the health of a 30-year-old Canadian to a 60-year-old Swede started a national discussion on the state of physical education in Canada. The spot had its origin in juxtaposed pages of a book by Dr. Roy Shephard,then the director of the graduate program in exercise science at the University of Toronto.On one page, a table of international fitness comparisons showed Swedes at the top of the ranking and Canadians significantly lower on the list; on the other side, an illustration showed that a 60-year-old active man could be as fit as a sedentary 30-year-old.When Russ Kisby (an early hire of McKerracher) showed McKerracher the book, the separate ideas were fused into the famous public service announcement (PSA).The ensuing outcry of alarm and embarrassment triggered a debate in the Parliament of Canada.

In the 1990s ParticipACTION became well-known for its television PSAs such as Body Break hosted by Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod.The series had been rejected by 40 companies, including advertising agencies and broadcasters such as The Sports Network (TSN) that were not interested in showing an interracial couple.  

With that frustration, Johnson approached ParticipACTION, who agreed to fund the series, including the first 65 of over 300 episodes.As a result, Body Break became a mainstay of Canadian television, including on networks that previously rejected it like TSN. ParticipACTION is no longer associated with Body Break, Johnson and McLeod.  

Over the years, ParticipACTION’s award-winning public education campaigns highlighting the benefits of physical activity have reached and engaged millions of Canadians. ParticipACTION continues to be a leading organization in the physical activity, sport and recreation sector – launching annual national public engagement and education campaigns, conducting best-in-class research, advocating for nation-wide policy change to reduce barriers to physical activity, and helping people in Canada get more active where they live, learn, work and play.

External links

• ParticipACTION