:
Thank you, Chair, for the introduction.
I am here with two officials from Sport Canada, Tom Scrimger and Jacques Paquette. They will be able to answer questions you might have afterwards as well.
I'm delighted to be here with the Aboriginal Sport Circle, and Silken as well and Sandra. I think the last time we saw each other was in Fredericton.
Thank you very much for allowing me to appear before the committee.
[Translation]
Good afternoon members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen.
I am very please to be here with you today as the minister for Sport, to discuss an issue that is of concern to us all.
[English]
Rising obesity rates and lack of physical activity, especially in our children, is a serious, significant, and long-term challenge facing the country. The only way we can meet this challenge is for all of us—parents, educators, the private sector, the sport and fitness communities, governments, and other stakeholders, all of us—to tackle this challenge together.
As we can see from the alarming statistics before us, it is imperative that we reverse this trend. Brian McCrindle, a cardiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, said, “This epidemic of pediatric obesity may become the most important and devastating public health challenge of the 21st century.” In fact, some experts believe that an increasing number of children could die before their parents as a result of this obesity epidemic if we do not act now. The solutions to this looming crisis are complex and will require coordinated and sustained effort from everyone. I'm sure you'll agree our children's health is worth it.
We know that regular physical activity is of immense benefit to dealing with childhood obesity, but today's children are no longer as active as they once were. There are a variety of reasons for this. For many children, physical activity is no longer an integral part of the day. Children are bused to school, driven to wherever they need to go, and parents are often concerned about letting their children play outside unsupervised the way many of us might have done when we were younger.
We are well aware of this problem, and our government has already taken several measures to address the issue.
[Translation]
We have demonstrated our commitment to the good that comes from sport and physical activity by introducing the children fitness tax credit. This initiative is valued at $160 million per year and will encourage participation in sport while reducing the cost of organized physical activities for many parents.
An expert panel was appointed by my colleague the minister of Finance to make sure that this tax credit delivers maximum benefits when it comes into effect on January 1st, 2007.
Our government made a commitment to encourage all Canadians to be more physically active and play sports. Currently, only 31 per cent of Canadians age 16 and over are actively engaged in organized sports. As surprising as the statistic may seem, less than 3 per cent of Canadians with a disability are involved in sport. Clearly, the challenge before us is great.
That is why earlier this year, I announced our government's new policy on sport for persons with a disability. This funding will improve access to sport, increase participation, and support our athletes with disabilities.
[English]
In addition, our policy on aboriginal people's participation in sport aims to reduce the barriers to aboriginal participation in sport. We recognize the positive role played by sport and recreation in strengthening the emotional, mental, and physical, as well as spiritual aspects of aboriginal life. The Government of Canada has committed $1 million annually to increase aboriginal participation, with a focus on enhancing coaching and building the capacity of provincial and territorial aboriginal sport bodies. I am pleased to say that these actions on the part of the government are strong, tangible manifestations of our commitment to get all Canadians active and fit through sport participation.
In the last nine months as minister in this portfolio, I have become familiar with many of the communities—local, provincial, non-governmental—in the wide world of sport and physical activity. Indeed, we have numerous partnerships to support the work of others in this field. Sport Canada has negotiated a number of bilateral agreements on matching funds with all provincial and territorial governments. These agreements support grassroots projects to improve sport participation opportunities for children and youth and aboriginal peoples. I have a few examples.
In British Columbia, community hubs for sport development gave over 2,200 children the opportunity to learn about and play soccer. This program reached 15 schools and also resulted in more than 80 coaches being trained in soccer and mini-soccer officiating.
In another example, in Newfoundland and Labrador there was recently held a Festival of Sports that reached most regions of the province and enabled 7,000 students to take part in non-competitive sports. There are plans to extend that reach to remote areas.
In Saskatchewan, Sport Match places a high priority on aboriginal schools. The program provides students with the opportunity to experience new sports and achieve active and healthy lifestyles.
During a June federal-provincial-territorial meeting of ministers responsible for sport, physical activity and recreation, we acknowledged overall targets for the participation of children and youth, girls and women, and the importance of working collaboratively in implementing public awareness campaigns. These targets include increasing sport participation rates for girls aged five to nine from 68% to 73% by 2012, while at least maintaining the current rate of participation for boys in the same age group at 77%. The target for teen participation levels is an increase of 5%, from the current 66% to 71%, by 2012.
The importance that regular physical activity programs in schools can play for children and youth cannot be overstated. While I recognize the clear jurisdiction the provinces and territories have with respect to education, I would like to invite my counterparts to open a dialogue on how we could expand our partnership in this regard. The upcoming FTP meeting of ministers responsible for sport and recreation in Whitehorse next February would represent an ideal opportunity for my counterparts to share their thinking with me.
Sport Canada also assists national sport organizations and multi-sport service organizations through its sport participation development program, with a view to increasing participation. Preference is given to projects that target children and youth in under-represented groups—in other words, girls and young women, aboriginal people, people with a disability, youth at risk, and the economically disadvantaged.
Some examples include support to Athletes Canada for Run-Jump-Throw, a program created to develop basic motor skills pertaining to all aspects of physical fitness that has a reach of over 25,000 students across the country; Softball Canada's program, Learn to Play, which has introduced the game of softball to thousands of kids over the past couple of years; and Speed Skating Canada's Cutting Edge program, which is aimed at children aged six to thirteen, with the goal of increasing interest and skill in speed skating.
[Translation]
These are just a few examples of initiatives that we have undertaken, working across all levels of government, that aim to address the issue of physical inactivity of our children and youth.
[English]
As a government and as a society, we are recognizing the infinite benefits that accrue from sport participation. Over the last nine months, my thoughts on sport in Canada have coalesced around what I call a core sport philosophy. As I see it, a core sport philosophy has three prongs: it's about participation, it's about competition and winning, and it's about supporting both the novice athlete and the elite athlete.
Allow me to focus just on the participation aspect for today. I am more convinced than ever that sport is a fantastic school of life. It speaks to almost every aspect of our daily lives and to the codes and values that guide us as a society. Through sport we learn the thrill of victory and the excitement of victory. Through sport we also learn to deal with disappointment and defeat, sometimes in the most public and exposed situations where there is no room to hide. In sport we learn to set goals and we learn to push ourselves to higher limits.
Sport appreciates talent and judges you on your skill, your ability, and your merit, without regard for race, religion, or creed. It bridges our differences and levels our status. Sport in Canada allows a guy with the last name of Chong to start a rugby club in small-town Fergus, Ontario, home of the Fergus Highland Games.
The lessons of the playing field make great athletes, but they also make great citizens, so our focus on participation is motivated by a much broader recognition of the benefits of sport in society. Our government wants to help expose as many Canadians as possible to the life lessons that sport teaches us and allow them to reap the rich social and health benefits that sport participation offers. I am confident that you will all see how the initiatives I spoke of earlier help in that regard.
Thank you very much for your attention. I'm sure that by working together we can help increase sport participation among all Canadians, including children. In my view, inaction is not an option. Our children's futures are at risk, and we need to act now.
Thank you.
First of all, I'd like to thank the committee for having me here; it's a marvellous opportunity. It's such an important issue. I would really call it the “childhood obesity and inactivity” committee, because I think these really are such deeply connected issues.
What's happening to our children is almost overwhelming, when we hear that only half of Canadian kids are getting enough physical activity for optimal growth and development. And when we hear some of the statistics around obesity and inactivity for our children, they're alarming. We know the health costs—that it costs twice as much to have an inactive, obese smoker in our system as to have a healthy person; that our system is built on the premise that our healthy young people support our aging population. We can only imagine what happens when the young people are not healthy.
There's also a huge cost to the children themselves, not just in the quantity of their lives but in the quality of their lives—how they feel about themselves when they're inactive and overweight. That was really startling to me as I wrote my book Child's Play: Rediscovering the Joy of Play in Our Families and Communities. I talked to a lot of children and listened to how children who are obese feel about their futures. Some of the studies I read showed me that these children felt less hopeful about their futures than children with cancer.
As an advocate for children and activity, I think we deserve to take a serious place in this discussion. We need to look at physical activity as not a “nice to have” for our Canadian children but a “need to have”, a primary building block for good health in our children. I think sport and physical activity have too often in our culture and in our funding strategies been seen as an extra, as a “nice to have”.
My first recommendation to this government and to this committee is that we put serious dollars into physical activity initiatives for children. There are so many programs out there that we see are working; they're actually getting kids active. There are lots of experts in our country who know how to get kids moving, know how to take an inactive child and get them engaged in physical activity, and they're struggling for funding. They're constantly having their hands tied. I think we have to look at a serious financial commitment that's not going to take a back seat when we have a critical issue in health care but is going to be a sustained commitment on the part of the government.
There are people now in Canada.... This issue has been talked about in the media now for at least three years, and people are starting to pay attention. I would argue that we are reaching a tipping point, where people are wanting to take action. For three years we've been running something called Silken's Active Kids. We take calls from people who have heard us speak, who have read articles I've written, and who say, we want to do something. These people want to know how they can connect to the best ideas and the best practices, how they can take action.
We got a call last week from the City of Vancouver, which is hosting the Olympic Games and which is asking us, how can we get our community more active? So there are people who are really searching for the ideas, the strategies, the best practices. They want to connect to others who are having success in this area.
I believe there's a place for a national strategy on getting children active, a national strategy that would engage communities and give them a tool kit for how to get things active. There are a lot of tools for how to get children active.
There's a lot of duplication in this area. Many of us, in our cities, in our schools, are being charged by the same challenge—let's get our kids active—and we're duplicating marketing materials, duplicating strategies. There is an opportunity here for the federal government to take a lead position, with a national strategy that engages Canadians. It could be with the Olympic Games, or it could be with other programs that are being suggested, but I believe there's a real need in this area.
I can't speak on this issue without addressing what's happening in our schools. Our schools used to be a place where physical activity was taught by physical activity experts, where we had intramurals, where we had sports. Our schools today no longer provide enough opportunities for children to be active.
I think one of the most startling things I learned while writing my book is that our elementary school children are being taught by teachers with little or no training in physical activity. We are not empowering our teachers to teach physical activity with innovation, with enthusiasm, with skills. How do we expect to turn on a generation of kids to being physically active when we're not even giving them the basic skills and giving the teachers the innovation in order to teach physical education properly?
As well as physical education, children are no longer receiving adequate access to after-school sports and intramurals. After-school care and before-school care have become really important. There's a huge percentage of children now in after-school and before-school care. I think this is actually a really important opportunity. We should be training our before- and after-school care providers in activity, in how to lead groups of children. Now many children come home at 6:30 in the evening from school, and they're hungry, and they have homework, and their families are tired.
That window between 2:40, which is when my children get out of school, and 6:30 is a very important window for activity. I'd like to see a lot more effort being put in on the part of the education system, with us as a federal government and provincial governments really supporting it.
Our schools are public spaces. In a place like Rouleau, Saskatchewan, theirs is the only gym in the entire city. They should be available for all children to be in after hours, to play. There are many programs we have come across in our country that were running basketball clubs or running floor hockey and that have had to close down because of the fees they were having to pay to keep that gym open after school hours. I don't think this should be happening. When we have an obesity crisis in our country, when we have a crisis around inactivity, those schools should be open for all the children in all the community to enjoy without this cost.
The last recommendation I would like to make is that we're very careful about the message we share with our children around inactivity and obesity. When we think about our fondest memories of childhood, for many of us it was riding our bicycles around the neighbourhood and playing road hockey. The neighbourhoods were our network; we met our neighbours; we connected to a sense of community. While we were running and jumping and playing, we were experiencing joy. And we weren't thinking about strengthening our bones or building our lung capacity; we weren't thinking about getting healthy; we were just playing.
I think the messages we as a government and we in our organizations share has to be around that joy and that play for children, because that's what children want to do.
Thank you.
:
I thank the honourable member for the question, through you, Mr. Chair.
It is true that the government is looking at various ways to promote the need for physical fitness and participation in sport among Canadians. We also have a campaign commitment to reintroduce the Awards of Excellence, those badges that you and I probably went through the public school system with. I have made it clear to officials at Sport Canada that we will only proceed if, first, the results can be shown--if the program can be structured so that results are ensured--and second, if there is value for money. To this point, we have not reached an agreement yet with ParticipACTION, but those certainly are two criteria that need to be in place if we are to proceed.
With respect to some of the criticisms that have been out there, I believe they've been unfounded. There were suggestions that this would be a sole-source contract. That is factually incorrect. This would be a contribution agreement, and contribution agreements are subject to a set of Treasury Board guidelines than are different from those for contracts, so the information that was reported out there was factually incorrect.
It was also suggested that existing organizations out there could undertake this work or are undertaking this work. That too is factually incorrect. There are a number of organizations out there--multi-sport organizations and other non-governmental organizations, to be sure--but none of them is engaged in a national public awareness campaign to promote the need for physical activity and sport.
The reason we think it's a good idea to embark on this path, just to finish up, is to look at the good example of good public policy with respect to anti-smoking. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s there was a plethora of research to show that smoking was bad for your health. There was no doubt about that, but it wasn't until governments in Canada put in place regulations to address the sale of tobacco to minors and restrict the sale of tobacco, as well as a public awareness campaign, that you really started to see a significant decline in smoking among various groups in Canada. it wasn't until those two pieces were put in place. It's a public policy success story.
We have a similar parallel with challenges around a lack of physical activity. It's been clear in the research. There has been a plethora of research since the 1950s and 1960s that being physically active, being physically fit, is tied to good health care outcomes--good cardiovascular health and the like--but we've not seen a decrease, or we've not been able to tackle this problem. Our government's view is that the children's fitness tax credit, which the finance department has estimated will invest up to $160 million a year into children's fitness and sports, plus a public awareness campaign that's tied to some of the things we talked about during the campaign, like the Awards of Excellence, would be very good two pieces of the public policy puzzle to put in place to attack this challenge. That's where we're coming from.
:
Thank you for your question.
I will answer in English because I can give you more information in English in answer to your question.
[English]
To answer your first question about child poverty, we haven't finalized the structure of the tax credit, but that will be made known in the next two months by the Department of Finance and the Canada Revenue Agency. We don't know exactly how it's going to be structured, but what I can tell you is that we are very aware of the challenges facing parents who are in disadvantaged groups, and of the high cost of participating in some of these sport activities, such as hockey. Hockey is a very expensive sport. It's expensive for municipalities to maintain arenas; it's also expensive to buy equipment, especially for somebody who has a young child who is outgrowing his pantalons every two months. I could tell you that hockey equipment is very expensive to buy every couple of years, with rapidly growing children.
That's why I've said before that we believe in partnering with Canadian Tire. We've provided them with core operational funding of $250,000 a year, and they've used that money to then raise, through a variety of partnerships, $5 million a year. This year alone, they will spend over $5 million purchasing equipment for kids across the country. To date, about 35,000 children have been recipients of this equipment.
It's done by the local dealer network. There are plenty of Canadian Tire dealers in the province of Quebec. It's got the widest reach, and as a matter of fact, it's probably got a wider reach than any government or any private sector company. There are close to 500 Canadian Tire stores throughout Canada; this company has an unbelievable reach, and they've used their dealer network to get into the communities to deliver help for children who are in disadvantaged groups.
With respect to ParticipACTION, you cited some statistics regarding the increase of obesity while the program was in effect. As the member for mentioned earlier, it's difficult to assess what the result would have been--what the increase in obesity would have been--had the program not been in effect. In other words, we did not have a control group that was outside the population, a group for whom the program wasn't in effect.
These kinds of public policy initiatives are often hard to quantify and to analyze, but what I can point to, by all accounts--from the information I've received and the information I've read--is the public policy with respect to anti-smoking campaigns. It's been very effective; it's been looked to as a model to decrease smoking rates among different groups in the population, and that's the model I've looked to in terms of tackling some of the challenges we face with physical activity.
:
Through you, Mr. Chair, to the member, I can answer the first part of your question; I will defer the question of the role of elite athletes to the four-time Olympian here, as to the role model they can play.
With respect to the tax credit--and I think this may, in addition, answer the question of the member for St. Paul's with regard to what evidence or research we have to put in place this tax credit--the finance department has done an analysis on this and has estimated that this tax credit could cost the federal treasury up to $160 million a year when it's implemented.
Sometimes these numbers get especially large. The way I like to look at this number is that it's the equivalent of an investment into children's fitness and sports of $500,000 into each Canadian community of 100,000 people. It's a significant investment, and one that we believe will have a huge impact.
We haven't finalized the structure of the credit and the list of fees that will be eligible, but the government has struck a three-person panel. Each person has been paid an honorarium of $1 to consult with stakeholders across the country.
The panel is made up of Dr. Kellie Leitch, chief/chair of pediatric surgery at the University of Western Ontario, an esteemed Canadian doctor and a success story; Dave Bassett, from Vancouver, who is involved in amateur sport out there; and Michael Weil, president of the YMCA of Montreal. It's an esteemed panel. They've been travelling the country. They've been receiving hundreds of submissions and suggestions as to what fees should be eligible. I want to emphasize that this investment is not just for sport; it's for sport and physical activity, and it will allow parents to recoup some of the costs for children under 16.
We think it's going to make a tremendous impact. To put this in perspective, Sport Canada spends about $143 million a year on its programming, including support for Olympians and support for participation. This tax credit, when fully estimated, could cost up to $160 million a year--in other words, an investment larger than the entire investment we put into Sport Canada every year. So we think it's going to make a tremendous impact, and I'm quite excited about it.
I'll pass the second question, about role models, on to Silken.
:
Thank you. Thank you, everybody, for being here.
My first question is to the minister, because I assume we'll get other opportunities with Silken Laumann.
In the $500 that is being spent, do we have a baseline, and will we have a way of knowing whether the $500 is being spent by parents who could not previously enter their children into sport, or whether the $500 is being spent by parents who already are spending the $500 to put their children in sport? Could we end up, then, with no new children enrolled in a program because they still cannot afford that money?
I heard Mr. Fletcher say lots of people have been calling him. They've been calling me too, but in my riding they don't like it, because it's not going to make a difference for very many people, so I think a whole group of folks are being left out.
I want also to suggest that the issue of poverty and the fact that it will be impossible for people to do this.... They are often the children who need it the most, because some percentage of overweight children are overweight because they live in poverty and their parents can only afford high-calorie food.
So I'd like to know about the baseline; I'd like to know how you're going to know if we're spending on the same kids who are currently playing. I'll stop there.
And I have one more question on the aboriginal money. How much is for the already skilled athletes and how much is to encourage children? How does the $12 million break down?
[Witness speaks in his native language]
I'm Rod Jacobs, from Walpole Island First Nation, here in Ontario. I thank the Creator for giving me this opportunity. I also thank and acknowledge the traditional territories that we're in, which are those of the Algonquin people.
I want to thank everyone for giving us the opportunity to speak here today on this very important matter. But first, before I begin, I want to start by letting you know my father will die of obesity—and I'll get back to that.
As you know, obesity is related to many health risks in Canada. Over 50% of children and youths are either overweight or obese. This is one of the many factors that leave aboriginals vulnerable to a host of other health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, gall bladder disease, joint disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. Aboriginal people have a prevalence of diabetes up to five times higher than the general population of Canada. This in turn leads to a host of other chronic health issues.
In my language, niiyaw maajiishkaa means “to have an active body”. That's one of the things we practise. But you all know this, and you have many experts at your disposal to help understand why this is the case. Suffice it to say that obesity is just one of the suite of health challenges faced by aboriginal peoples. In fact, aboriginals as a population don't score well on many of the key determinants of health: employment and working conditions, income and social status, education and literacy, health services, and healthy child development, just to name a few.
The challenges are bigger than any of us. They are a vast and complex puzzle that require comprehensive and steadfast attention on many fronts. For this, there is no one solution. The Aboriginal Sport Circle has its part to play.
The circle is comprised of thirteen provincial and territorial aboriginal sport bodies. We were incorporated back in 1997. We have been working for ten years to develop the mechanisms for aboriginal sport and recreation that provide one small piece of the puzzle. We know sport and recreation provide an avenue for healthy, active lifestyles for all ages, and they are a good way to counter obesity and being overweight. What some people don't know is that sport and recreation also provide other essential elements for people's well-being.
Effective sport and recreation programs provide a vehicle for development of personal skills and self-esteem. They build community fabric, they underlie cultural connection and creative expression, and they counteract boredom and provide healthy alternatives for our youth. They teach teamwork and leadership and provide a place to belong. Sport and recreation have been used effectively for social development, crime prevention, substance abuse recovery, social inclusion, relief for young mothers, and a safe haven when one is needed. Where recreation directors and coaches exist, there are role models and an avenue for communication, for education about healthy eating and dealing with racism, for setting goals and reaching them.
In short, a community that is building a sport and recreation capacity is doing far more than providing active outlets for its kids. Powerful medicine is what we're dealing with.
We're dealing with a powerful medicine that comes from our traditional teachings of the medicine wheel that encompass the spiritual side of us, the emotional side of us, the mental side of us, and the physical side of us. As one, when we complete the circle, that medicine heals. It doesn't put a band-aid on anything; it heals us from the inside.
In February 2000, a national recreation round table on aboriginal/indigenous peoples was held in Maskwachees, Alberta. The delegates created the Maskwachees Declaration, which I'll read now: “Sustainable commitment and investment in active living, physical activity, physical education, recreation and sport are essential to promote health and address social issues facing Aboriginal/Indigenous Peoples in communities across Canada.” This still rings true.
Our path is a long one. We have been grateful for the ongoing support of Sport Canada in the development of the aboriginal sport policy. We recognize that it is important that we achieve meaningful inclusion in Canada within sport and recreation. Sport Canada has provided leadership among the FPT ministers of sport and recreation across the country, and these ministers have given aboriginal sport and recreation their attention over the past two years, but there is still more work to be done.
Further to this, we need to develop our PTs: our provincial and territorial aboriginal sport bodies need to be developed, as well as our grassroots. There is more work to be done in furthering that capacity; they can be provided the resources that will sustain them. We believe in doing that through our traditional teachings.
Our communities know the power of sport and recreation, particularly for our children and youth. Many communities have demonstrated their commitment by diverting their own scarce resources from other priorities into recreation directors and programming, but in many more that has not been possible. Many of our recreation directors are coming from other priorities—from our health budgets, from our education budgets, from our justice budgets. Government doesn't put its focus on recreation directors in our communities, which would help eliminate the obesity. If we invested time and money where the root source is, we would eliminate obesity; we'd have fewer bills, we'd have fewer health, education, and justice problems in our communities.
What is the role of Health Canada and INAC? To date, these ministries have been not particular partners in advancing aboriginal sport and recreation, but as we said before, there are many pieces to the puzzle, and we are one of them. We acknowledge the work being done for our communities in the spheres of education and public health, but we would willingly accept help in these two spheres, which are natural complements to our own, particularly in the area of health promotion. The pathway to greater health for each community will depend on all three of us working together.
The long-term athlete development model developed by Sport Canada takes a lifelong approach to sport. Our communities' past traditions have taken that same approach. We were going and coming, and there was always physical activity; sport has always been part of our lives, as well as recreation.
You asked the ASC here today to talk about obesity. Perhaps we've stretched your patience by extending our response to a wider perspective. We believe that healthier weights come from healthier lifestyles and that lifestyles are both environmentally and culturally based. In expanding the aboriginal sport and recreation movement, we can make a difference by drawing on traditional lifestyles, cultural practices, and holistic attitudes towards life. A happy, healthy community that laughs and plays together is perfectly consistent with aboriginal traditions, and it contributes much more than healthier weights.
This past year our national aboriginal hockey championships—which the director general, Tom Scrimger, attended—were aired live on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. They were among the most successful sporting programs they have ever had on the television. The championships drew the largest viewership, and because of that the network wants to continue to work on sport with us in the Aboriginal Sports Circle. We mention this because, between those 600 male and female athletes who come to our championships, there are another 1,000 at least in each of the provinces and territories who are striving to reach that goal, striving to participate.
We turn our attention to the North American Indigenous Games, which Ms. Tina Keeper is well familiar with, where we see her. It's so important to see the 5,000 or so athletes parading on the field, because sport and recreation means something to them. They have a goal, they become healthier, and they strive for that.
We point out these things because we see that these activities within aboriginal sport and recreation are very important and are powerful medicine for us to heal a hurting nation.
I talked about my dad when I began, because he will die. He will die of heart disease; he's obese. He comes to that although seven generations ago our people were strong. Our people were very strong. We gave up a lot, and now it's time for us to get that back.
Our people have told us to think seven generations ahead. Obesity will not be a problem in our communities, because we will fight it. My dad will die, but his memory will live on in his grandchildren, because he instilled values into my heart and into the heart of our youth. That's what we're here for: to eliminate those problems.
[Witness continues in native language]
:
I want to thank the minister for being here today.
To all our presenters, thank you very much for your recommendations. They will help us greatly in writing our report on childhood obesity, which is a critical issue facing this country. Thank you also for the public awareness opportunity that this provides us today. A lot of this issue can be combated with education. We're fortunate to have this meeting televised today, and many Canadians will be watching at home. By watching this meeting, parents may think about how they can get their kids to shut off the TV and the computers and get outside to play.
Your message, Ms. Laumann, is certainly a good one.
I would also like to take this opportunity to trumpet the example that you quoted from Rouleau, Saskatchewan, the example of a “play in the school” night. Last year on Wednesday nights, they played in the school, with teachers and parents joining people of all ages. This is in the great riding of Palliser, my riding. It's better known as Dog River, where the hit TV show “Corner Gas” is filmed. I wanted to trumpet that example, and I'll be following up with those people when I get back home.
I think decision-makers must make fitness a priority in our schools. If this message isn't delivered in our report, we will have missed the boat. When I was in elementary school, we had daily physical education. We had intramural sports, which was a big part of being a kid, and some of my fondest memories are of intramural sports at school. I believe I heard the minister hint that he wants to bring back the Canada fitness program, with the different badges—gold, silver, bronze. Canadians will remember this from school: the flexed arm hang, endurance runs, and the little relays with bean bags. This was excellent for promoting physical fitness and for getting the kids to play. It was also a way to have more active kids and aspiring Olympians.
In my riding of Palliser, a hot topic is the building of a multiplex fitness facility in Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, wants to build this multiplex. It will include a hockey rink, curling rinks, an indoor soccer facility, and a walking track, which will certainly be beneficial in -40 Celsius weather. I know that provincial and territorial ministers met with Minister Chong and also regarding the infrastructure deficit that exists in this country. I'm wondering how those discussions are proceeding.
What is your department, the sports department, doing in conjunction with the Ministry of Health to push this issue forward? What is on the horizon in respect of infrastructure funding for health and fitness in Canada?
:
Yes, there are just so many places. The problem has crept up on us, and we've really just started to recognize the enormity of it and to take it seriously. We're still a little bit in denial about how important it is. We do need to spend real money to tackle this problem, and it has to be tackled on many different levels. The schools are a critical piece of that. The education that our elementary school children are getting, as I said in my comments, is not sufficient. And we need to stop graduating teachers without any physical activity training.
The opportunity is there to provide greater training for before- and after-school care, but parents are the first in line. We buy the groceries. We actually dictate how our families spend their time. Certainly, what I have been doing nationally is really promoting the importance of families' having unstructured play, of getting outside and kicking the soccer ball with their kids, of giving themselves permission, instead of signing up for another hour of tutoring or another hour of language, to actually spend one night a week having a family night to get kids out and be physically active together.
Australia, as I mentioned, is a good model. They have very strong physical education experts in their schools. They have a culture that values physical activity, and we have a culture that watches physical activity on television. We watch sport on television, and that has been a shift. If we are going to continue to produce great athletes, which is one end of the spectrum, we also have to continue to really value and support activity on every level, from the level of the kid who wants to participate in hockey because it's fun, to the level of the kid who has a dream to be the best in the world. If we're not supporting the dreams of our children to be the best in the world, then we're supporting mediocrity. We need to support our elite athletes, but at the foundation we need to look at all these initiatives.
There are so many things going on in our country that are really good, as I said in my presentation. There are people who really know how to engage young people. I would suggest that the federal government take a role here in creating some sort of funds for these lean, mean programs--$5,000 really has an impact in these communities--so that they are easily accessible and are something like the Edmonton inner city project. In Edmonton there is a wonderful project that gets kids playing before and after school. They are the neediest kids in that community. They are strapped for funding. A little bit of funding makes a big difference.
Does that answer your question? I was long-winded.
:
Thank you, Ms. Davidson.
Two years ago, I was about 310 pounds. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I was grossly obese. I came to the Aboriginal Sport Circle, and I had to start my healing journey. I remember the day: it was in March 2004. I got down on my knees and I prayed. That's what our people did, and that's what our people need to do—get back to the things that were us. So I prayed. I had to deal with sexual abuse, drugs and alcohol, suicide. Everything in my community I had to deal with—that was me. As a 12-year-old child, I'm driving my parents' car, getting my brother to his hockey games, because of drugs and alcohol. I had to deal with the emotional side of things.
My elders taught me that the spiritual side of things is the eagle, and the emotional side of things is the bear. The bear is very heavy, like emotions. Once I started to get this, my mind started to change. I started to grasp who I was. That 300 pounds wasn't me. I was carrying it around because of all of the things I had to deal with. My mind started to change, and the weight started to come off.
The mental aspect is the turtle, and sometimes the changing of our minds is slow. But it took place. The physical side is the wolf. I started to become faster. Right now I'm the healthiest I've been since I was maybe two. It's amazing what we can do when we try to achieve that holistic side of ourselves.
It's about utilizing our elders. Our elders were a big part of our communities. Now they're becoming distant. The youth were so important. They were a source of guidance to us. I talked to a friend of mine this weekend who had a difficult decision to make. She was babysitting her niece and nephew. I told her not to ask them the question, but to just let them speak, because they'd give her the answer.
Holistically, we have to take an inclusive look at every aspect of our lives—family, spirituality, emotions, mentality, and physicalness. We need to get back to that, but a lot of times our people stop there. We have to thank the Creator--Chi-Miigwetch--for giving us this opportunity. Holistic living has provided me with a healthier lifestyle. I can live longer. I know I will continue to fight for these kids, our aboriginal youth and every person in Canada, to make sure they're holistically finding who they are. Sport and recreation is one aspect of this. The Victoria Playhouse, which I've been to a number of times, is very important as well.
Our culture is great. We need to practise our culture. That's who we were made to be, and we need to honour it. Once we start honouring who we are, we become whole.
Rod, thank you for reminding us what health really is: the mind, the body, and the spirt, and how integrated all of those things are. We often talk about teaching the whole child in our school system, and what you've shared is very beautiful.
I want to address the question of fear and how our communities have changed. It's a complex question. It's really one about social change and how we can impact our communities to make a positive social change and begin to trust one another. I think it really is a matter of increasing our comfort zones slowly, because it has taken a long time to get where we are today, from a place where certainly I, as a child, was left to my own devices until dinner time. I had dinner and couldn't wait to go outside again until the street lights came on. That was the sign we had to come in. So things have changed a lot in 20 to 25 years.
“Play in the park” is an idea we promote, and I have observed what happens when communities start something like “play in the park”, where they're working together to supervise a local park. People come together and start to get to know their neighbours. They start to engage in conversation, and the kinds of conversations that certainly happened in my community.... The first day we did it, we had six children out. Now we're regularly getting about thirty children coming to play in the park, and their families come. But kids have also starting walking to school, because now we know who lives in what house and the kids have developed a further connection. Six-year-olds now know ten-year-olds in the same school because they play in the park together.
So I think it's a slow social change. I think the starting point is creating open community spaces where people can come together in a way that is maybe initiated by the community but is supported by governments' and cities' free open space, where the doors are open for people to come. They can then use their initiatives to actually come together in that space.
So I don't think I can snap my fingers and say to just let your kids out, but I do think that by starting a discussion, like we are today and like the one you've been engaged in for some time now, around the health of our children.... Twenty years ago, we didn't wear seat belts and we didn't sit in car seats, but we've somehow gotten to a place where we wouldn't think about putting our children in the car without a child seat. I drag my child seat right across the country to oma and opa's house, in order to put my children in a car seat.
Physical activity has to be such a priority for us as parents, as teachers, and as community leaders that we wouldn't think of supporting a government that didn't make it a priority, that we wouldn't think of supporting a school that didn't have an integrated physical education approach. That is going to take a little bit of time. It takes our talking about it, discussing it, and continuing to promote and take seriously the critical piece that physical activity has in our physical, emotional, and social health.
:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to all of you for coming. I am pleased that you came. I greatly admire you, Ms. Laumann, and you as well, Mr. Jacobs. I think that your journey is an example for everyone.
Mr. Paquette, before asking my questions I would like to make a comment. I think that the minister is practising what he preaches — his skating is excellent. He skated around my colleague's question. You must tell him that he is very good. However, I think it is unfortunate that Health Canada could not be bothered, over the 30 years of its existence, to study the impact of the ParticipACTION program. Other countries have similar programs and have done so.
I have a study before me that was published by the British Medical Journal, a well respected publication. Five hundred and ninety-two children participated in a physical exercise program for one year for the purposes of determining whether or not exercise had an impact on obesity. The physical exercise had no impact on weight, but it did have an impact on motor skills and on health. I think that is important.
I also think that it is important to be concerned about obesity. I am obese and I admit it. I have problems but I often go to Tim Hortons to buy a carrot and bran muffin and an orange juice. I thought that was good for me and now I realize that it is not good for me at all.
I think that there are many issues that we need to identify, examine and be aware of. This is not just a question of exercise, it is not just a question of practice. There is also the number of calories that we are ingesting and that we can lose through exercise.
Ms. Laumann, my question is for you. This morning, I eat a muffin and I drank 8 onces of pure orange juice. That is good thing, is not it? Do you know how many calories that represents and how long it will take me to loose those calories? It is unbelievable, it adds up to 512 calories and I would have to walk at a brisk pace for at least an hour in order to lose those calories. The same applies to children.
I would like to hear your opinion. Do you feel, like Mr. Jacobs, that exercise is not the only factor? We also need to make sure that parents are aware that the number of calories consumed has an impact, that they are aware of how many calories they and their children are consuming and that they also know what the ultimate consequences of those calories are? Do you think that what I am saying is a bit far fetched or am I right?
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'd also like to thank all the witnesses. The Minister had to leave, but I appreciate the officials being here, and Silken Laumann, and Rod, and all of you, for the very interesting discussion you've stimulated today.
I want to put three questions quickly out here. I'll just put them all out here.
Silken, I'd like you to address the great program that you mentioned was in Edmonton, with its little bit of money and good results. I'd like to know what kind of a low-cost investment that was. Maybe you could describe that. If you could just hold onto that, I'll run through these quickly.
I wanted to ask the officials what years did the ParticipACTION program actually run, because there was a period when it was active. I haven't heard that actually explained. Maybe you could explain that to us.
I wanted to come back to Rod. I want, first of all, to thank you for your own personal story that you shared with us and for making yourself vulnerable in explaining it. I think you had us all fascinated by it. In my coastal community, Nanaimo—Alberni, we have a lot of first nations people and the predominate group is Nuu-chah-nulth. They have an expression that our interpreters will probably have a challenge with. It's hishuk ish tsawalk, which in their language means everything is one; literally, we're part of nature, and nature is part of us. And I think that dealing with this challenge of obesity certainly ties in with that.
I appreciated that you raised the points about how sport involves teamwork, leadership, social development, as well as the physical aspects and the spiritual, and you tied those together so nicely for us. I know that some of our own aboriginal communities, the coastal communities that are isolated, with 800 people and 250 school kids, have basketball teams. The kids are really good at basketball, but they're isolated and their ability to participate and interact with other communities is limited.
And now back to the officials, we talk about a 40% increase in funding. I think I heard the minister say there was $20 million to increase aboriginal participation in sport activity. I wonder if you could explain where and how you see that. What is the vision? How do you see the new funding applied, and what type of venue or approach is anticipated with the increased funding?
So I'll just put those questions out for starters.
:
Should I answer first, since I had the first question?
I'd like to share not just Edmonton but three ideas, because they all share a commonality in that they were initiated by the community. The City Centre Education Project in Edmonton was initiated by a principal who said we don't have enough money to hire a physical activity expert, but we need one, so let's work together with other schools to do so. They got five schools together and they hired a physical activity expert. They also hired a public health nurse to help initiate a change in food policy within the school. They identified lots of kids in their school who needed some special help in accessing physical activity programs. So they trained and brought in experts to create active before and after school care. I don't have the exact numbers on how much that cost. I did at one point; it's not at the top of my mind.
In Erin, Ontario, there's a program called Erin Hoops. It started off as a basketball club. Many kids played in this basketball league, but then it got too expensive to play in the school. They took on the school board; they took on the city. They lost on all counts, but Patrick Suessmuth, who ran the program, didn't give up. He found a community centre, a space that was a little bit rundown, and somehow he negotiated a free lease to open that space. And 500 kids a month now come through that space. They don't only play basketball, they rollerblade, they play ping pong, and the only rule is no hitting and no slamming of doors in that place--again, some real innovation.
Whitehorse had a problem with vandalism in its inner city school. They created something called the Whole Child Project. Again, they opened the school doors in the evening. They partnered with the RCMP, who ran a school bus all around the neighbourhood. They invited grandparents, uncles, children, etc., to come into this open school concept.
Various resources were offered in that school. One was floor hockey and basketball, one was healthy cooking classes, another was helping people who needed to navigate the social programs so they could access the further help of the community. We talked to one of the mothers who went through this program with her three kids. She was in a deep depression when she accessed this program and credits this program for getting her out of the house one night a week to play with her kids. It saved her from deep, deep depression.
All these things have something in common. They happened because somebody wanted to take action. That action was supported by some money in the community--in one case, the RCMP; in another case, some private funding; and in another case, some government funding. A little bit of money in those kinds of initiatives really goes a long way.
:
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
As I said earlier, I wish to introduce this procedural motion. I wished to speak to it at the last meeting, but because of lack of time, I wasn't able to.
We are sitting here today listening to witnesses on an extremely important study we have undertaken. I don't think there's anybody around this table who wants to do less than a full study, a full hearing of witnesses who would do justice to this study. We have heard from a lot of people here. We have a physician who sits on this committee, and we have a person of aboriginal descent on this committee. We have those who are extremely interested in land use planning and infrastructure issues. All of us, I believe, have to some extent questioned the input that went into the new Canada food guide and whether there was enough consultation.
I'm putting forth this motion, Mr. Chairman, because I feel we need to hear from health professionals, we need to hear more from the first nations and Inuit groups, we need to hear what provincial initiatives are out there, and we need to hear about the impact of our built environment and infrastructure, so we can develop a full report that will have input from everybody. By my best estimate, we have probably spent about $100,000 to this point on this study, and I would hate to see us put forward a report that is not complete.
Therefore, I would move this motion. I won't read it, as it is lengthy, but everybody has a copy of it now.