Health Committee on Feb. 14th, 2023

[Dr. Marco Di Buono]

That's an excellent question. Thank you.

I'd like to suggest that we should just be focusing on getting them involved in local sport and physical activity opportunities.

We actually worked in partnership with the federal government in 2015-16, when a large number of Syrian refugee families came to Canada, and recently with the influx of Afghan families over a year ago now. Throughout those experiences, we developed, in collaboration with many of our partners at the local level, a best practice for how to engage with newcomer families—I do want to insist that it's families, not just the kids—so that we create the right types of environments and trauma-informed approaches to coaching and youth leadership. This allows those kids to find a home and become familiarized with their new communities in a way that leads to long-term participation and potentially to those families building roots in those communities over the long term as well.

We have newcomer programs in Edmonton and Winnipeg and Surrey, B.C., and throughout Atlantic Canada and all points in between, and they are thriving. These kids are now integrating into more traditional forms of organized sport. There are many programs, as I mentioned earlier, on the periphery of organized sport that focus on the new Canadian experience and on giving them the competency and skills to then transfer over into more typical local clubs like hockey, soccer or basketball.

What it comes down to, I would argue, is continuing to invest, as the government has, in the Community Sport for All initiative. That is the first time we are seeing a significant influx of financial resources into the very grassroots of sport where these things matter and where the experts know how to address the needs of those kids and those families.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Antunes, do you want to add anything to that?

[Elio Antunes]

On the other side of the equation, our program leaders also need to ensure that programs that are offered are relevant and culturally appropriate to newcomers. As much as we want to integrate people into our traditional sports, we should also be looking at ways to expand what we offer as programming to ensure that those opportunities are there for all.

[Marcus Powlowski, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Mr. Warshawski, a number of jurisdictions around the world have introduced taxes on sugary drinks, including Mexico, France, Hungary, Finland, Norway, Belgium, Chile, Barbados and a number of jurisdictions in the United States. My understanding is that Newfoundland has just introduced similar legislation.

Why hasn't Canada done this before? You would think.... We're one of the more progressive countries in the world. Has the lobbying of the industry prevented this from happening?

[Dr. Tom Warshawski]

I think in part it's industry lobbying, but also there's a natural hesitation for government to increase taxes. That's worldwide.

Over the last decade, we've met with various levels of government, both provincially and federally, to advocate this step. In British Columbia, we were successful in persuading the government to remove an exemption on provincial sales tax that sugary beverages enjoyed. I think the next step is to try to get something like this implemented either at a federal level or at multiple provincial levels.

I'd like to see it happen and I welcome your advice on how to move this forward.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Dr. Warshawski.

Next we have Mr. Viersen, please, for five minutes.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses for being here today.

I'm going to direct my questions to Marco and Elio around participation in sports.

How much does our general sense of security impact that? I think about my growing up and heading over to the local hockey rink and being there all afternoon. I see that baseball diamonds are empty now during after-school hours. It was not organized when I was a kid. We showed up with a ball and a glove and played baseball.

I sense that while the police keep coming to our community and saying that our community is statistically as safe as ever, the general sense of security seems to be diminished. Does that show up in your analysis and research at all?

Go ahead, Marco.

[Dr. Marco Di Buono]

Safety is one of the barriers that are articulated by youth directly, but it is by no means the number one barrier they express. Generally, cost comes out on top. Feelings of self-confidence for girls and young women come in at number two or number three, and the list goes on.

Lack of safety is there, but it is by no means the number one concern that kids articulate. Quite honestly, even transportation trumps that. Lack of facilities and lack of equipment all factor much higher on the list of things that are keeping kids from participating within their communities.

[Elio Antunes]

It's perceived as an issue, but the research is clear—rom a physical activity perspective, anyway—that there isn't an increase in safety issues in communities. Certainly, because of media and the way it is now, we're just more aware of issues when they do happen; therefore, I think it's more of a perceived safety issue.

I would also say that we have to work with municipal leaders, because sometimes they implement policies that work against getting kids more active in their communities, like banning street hockey or banning tobogganing. There are many different local bylaws that prevent kids from being physically active.

When you talk about baseball fields being empty, we need to ensure that there are strong partnerships between the municipality and the education system, because they both have facilities. Many times schools can't access municipal facilities when they're empty during the day, and vice versa: Municipalities can't access school facilities when they're empty in the evenings.

We need to do a better job of creating a whole-of-community approach to ensuring that physical activity and sport are available to all.

[Arnold Viersen, Conservative, Peace River—Westlock, AB]

Go ahead, Dr. Ellis.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you very much, Arnold. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for being here.

Mr. Antunes, I have a quick question for you. I think maybe I misheard you, but did you say that your funding for the entire Participaction program is ending on March 31, or is in jeopardy of ending?

[Elio Antunes]

Yes, it's ending at this point in time.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Are you in active negotiations with the government with respect to that?

[Elio Antunes]

We're advocating that there be funding, like many other organizations. Based on the way the funding programs are, our point of origin for funding advocacy is through the budget process. We've been working hard and speaking to many of your colleagues around support for renewed funding for us, yes.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

Thank you very much.

Through you, Chair, if I might just continue with that, how long has Participaction been around now?

[Elio Antunes]

It's been 52 years.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

That is 52 years as an entity, and I would say that it's described as Canada's premier physical activity brand. Certainly I would say that everybody around this table is familiar with it, but it is in danger of ending abruptly.

[Elio Antunes]

That's correct.

[Stephen Ellis, Conservative, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

That's shocking.

The question I would have, then, is this: What do you think the implications of that are on Canada's youth in particular and Canadians in general?

It's a big question, I realize, and we have only a few seconds left, but could you encapsulate that?

[Elio Antunes]

As I mentioned in my remarks, to address this issue requires the support of many different organizations. Participaction alone can't solve the physical inactivity crisis, but we play an important part, along with our various partners.

Our focus has been to keep this issue at the forefront of not only policy-makers' minds but also the minds of Canadians as a whole to ensure that we motivate them and support them to be physically active.

We talk a lot about sport here, but our whole organization's focus is around getting people to move more for the sake of movement. If they move more and adopt a more active, healthier lifestyle, then they're more inclined to participate in sport programs and possibly even more inclined to eat more healthily.

Our whole focus is around active, healthy living and ensuring that people have the opportunities and the support to overcome the barriers that prevent them from being more active on a daily basis.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Antunes.

[Dr. Marco Di Buono]

If I may add one additional point, there is an economic argument to be made here as well.

A coalition of concerned stakeholders from the sport, physical activity and recreation community in the greater Calgary area published a report in 2020 showing the economic activity directly attributable to sport, physical activity and recreation within Calgary alone equalled $3.3 billion annually and was accountable for 43,000 jobs.

If we see declining rates continue among adults and children, a major economic impact and jobs impact will ensue. If you're not buying the health benefits and the social benefits of sport, physical activity and recreation, there is a strong economic argument to be made as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sean Casey]

Thank you, Mr. Di Buono.

We'll go to Mr. Jowhari, please, for five minutes

[Majid Jowhari, Liberal, Richmond Hill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to all the witnesses today.

I've had the opportunity to meet with various organizations over the last year. Specifically, I met with with Participaction. We met on December 6 and had a very fruitful conversation. I can assure you that on this side of the House with my colleagues, we are definitely supportive of providing the support that the organization needs.

I want to build on the line of questioning that my colleague Dr. Ellis started.

In that meeting, we talked about looking at the a whole-of-government approach, if you recall.

I'll give you about a minute to talk about.... When we had that conversation, you also highlighted the positive impact that funding will bring to the organization, and not only to the government, but to society in a much broader sense.

[Elio Antunes]

I mentioned that physical inactivity levels are at 28%, down 11% from before the pandemic. We weren't doing a great job with kids and their physical activity before the pandemic, but it's even worse now.

Along with all the things I just said about active kids being healthier kids, happier kids, and doing better in school, there is a very strong economic argument related to health care costs down the road.

The challenge with physical activity is that I can't show the implications today. The implications are 10 to 20 years from now, and as policy-makers and leaders, we need to think about the future of our country from a health care perspective. If we don't get Canadians, people living in Canada, more active, we're going to pay for it down the road. Either we can invest now into programs and policies and approaches that encourage and support people to get active or we'll have to pay for it from a health care perspective down the road. There is a strong argument there.

The other thing I would say is that we're falling behind on an international scale. Canada prides itself in being a leader. Our organization works with 58 other countries in monitoring physical activity for children and youth, and we're ranked 28 out of the 58 countries. They're all using our report card format. They leverage our insights and our thought leadership, but many of them have implemented policies that have generated significant results while we fall further behind. I would suggest that out of national pride, we need to do better as a country.