Madam Chair, honourable members and committee staff, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and to contribute to this important study on physical activity levels in Canada’s youth.
Community-based activities, positive relationships and life-changing programs: as Canada’s largest child- and youth-serving organization, Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada provides vital services and programs to over 200,000 young people in 700 communities across Canada. During critical out-of-school hours, our clubs help young people develop into healthy, active and engaged adults. Our trained staff give children and youth the tools they need to realize positive outcomes in self-expression, academics, healthy living, physical activity and mental health.
At clubs, we are there for children and youth during critical out-of-school hours, that time before and after school and during weekends and school breaks that represent the largest block of discretionary time in a child’s day. The average child between the ages of six and 12 has approximately 67 hours of free time each week, which is more time than they spend in school.
Research suggests that having a lot of largely unstructured, unsupervised and unproductive time can undermine positive development.
At Boys and Girls Clubs, young people have structured programming and supervision that helps them stay active and healthy. All of our clubs operate under the core programming of our model for success, which includes daily physical activity and access to healthy food.
As this committee knows, physical activity has been demonstrated to have broad effects, including improved academic performance and reductions in depression, anxiety and stress, loneliness, and self-destructive behaviour. It plays a fundamental role in healthy child development.
We know that only 35% of Canadian children between the ages of five and 17 are getting the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day. We also know that participating in quality, organized out-of-school activities is a constructive, safe and active way for young people to spend their free time.
In a recent national survey, when asked how they would like to spend this discretionary time, the vast majority of children and youth said they wanted to spend more time engaging in physical activities, hanging out with friends and participating in arts-related activities such as music and drama. However, getting access to these activities can be difficult for families of low socio-economic means.
This is where Boys and Girls Clubs come in. Our clubs offer every one of these programs at little to no cost for members. Our clubs are often located in neighbourhoods that have few recreational centres, with young people coming to think of Boys and Girls Clubs as a place where they can belong.
Clubs have been largely focused on physical activity, including team sports, recreation, dance, and adventure sports. Increasingly, we are adding nutritious meals to the traditional after-school snack and are providing programs on nutrition and other aspects of healthy living. They help children and youth develop the positive attitudes and behaviours that will promote their safety, health and well-being.
Children who regularly participate in after-school programs make considerable health and wellness gains. They exercise more regularly, eat well and are more protected from injuries and threats. Because they are learned in childhood, these behaviours are more likely to affect participants’ lifestyle well into adulthood.
Given the short- and long-term mental and physical health benefits that structured out-of-school programming provides to children and youth, we ask this committee to consider including support and expansion for such programs, especially for those families with low socio-economic means, as a strong recommendation in its report back to Parliament.
I now want to give the opportunity for my colleague, Adam, the Director of Programs for clubs across Ottawa, to speak about some of our more specialized physical activity programs.
Thank you.