December is a perfect time to reflect on and celebrate accomplishments from the past year! From national physical activity initiatives to best-in-class research projects, read on for a roundup of our 2024 programs and campaigns, their positive impacts and a sneak peek at what’s coming up in 2025.
Table of contents
- January to April: Fall in with an active crowd
- January: Move for your Mood
- March: ParticiPARKS design phase
- May: The ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
- June: The ParticipACTION Community Challenge presented by Novo Nordisk
- July and August: Fall in with an active crowd – The Yukon style
- September: Sneak It In
- October: Let’s make room to move and Change the Pace
- November: National physical activity summit
- Making room to move in 2025
January to April: Fall in with an active crowd
We kicked off 2024 with our Fall in with an active crowd campaign to demonstrate the health and social benefits that can come from participating in physical activity-based groups. From mall-walking groups to boccia clubs, there are active crowds for everyone! One-third of people in Canada knew about the campaign, and 11 million took action after watching the commercial. Were you one of them?
January:
Move for your Mood
During the colder months, many people in Canada report feeling lower moods or “the winter blues”. Can you relate?
Luckily there’s a proven way to start feeling better: physical activity! When we move, our bodies release feel-good chemicals that boost our moods.
To inspire people to get active for their mental health, we delivered our Move for your Mood campaign nationally across digital media and hosted a step challenge on the Optimity app in January.
ParticipACTION’s MoodMovers – a group of Canadian content creators, including mental health advocates, parent and lifestyle influencers, and movement enthusiasts inspired their followers to join the challenge and move for their mood.
- Over 18,000 people participated in the Move for Your Mood challenge.
- 76% of participants said they were more active because of the challenge.
- 75% of participants learned more about the mental health benefits of physical activity thanks to the challenge.
If you need some movement motivation this winter, try going on an outdoor walk or doing yoga like Abby Verigin – one of ParticipACTION’s MoodMovers.
March:
ParticiPARKS design phase
Public activity spaces are so important for creating healthy, thriving communities. In March the design phase of four ParticiPARKS – inclusive and accessible outdoor spaces that will offer low-barrier movement opportunities for all – was completed. Designed by Bienenstock Natural Playgrounds with input from the communities where they were intended to be built, the parks were planned for La Ronge, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Brampton, Ontario, and Fredericton, New Brunswick. Unfortunately, current budget constraints have prevented the construction of the parks from proceeding.
May:
The ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth
This year’s ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth called on people in Canada to recognize climate change as an extra barrier to getting kids active and highlighted how physical activity can help address the negative health impacts of climate change.
- 77% of parents who knew about the Report Card said they would support and encourage their children to be active more regularly.
- 70% of parents said they would get more active as a family.
- Only 39% kids (5 to 17 years) in Canada met the recommendation of 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity per day, earning them a grade of D+ for overall physical activity.
How can we help kids get more active? Read the Report Card to find out.
June:
The ParticipACTION Community Challenge presented by Novo Nordisk
The ParticipACTION Community Challenge presented by Novo Nordisk encouraged everyone in Canada to get active throughout June in search of Canada’s Most Active Community. This year:
- Over 591,000 people participated in the Community Challenge.
- 1,118 organizations hosted more than 6,255 events, activities and programs to help their communities get active during the challenge.
- 1,250 communities in all provinces and territories competed for the title of Canada’s Most Active Community.
- Hay River, Northwest Territories, earned the title and won the $100,000 grand prize to support local sport and physical activity initiatives!
ParticipACTION joined the Hay River community in October for a celebratory event where attendees participated in free try-it sessions to help community members find their active crowd for the winter. Curling, speed skating, yoga, table tennis, swimming and hockey were all on the list!
At the event, Hay River’s mayor, Kandis Jameson, announced that the town will use its $100,000 prize to enhance its sports and recreation programming and toward the Inukshuk Park Revitalization Project, which will include adding multi-sport summer equipment for pickleball and basketball and major updates to the outdoor hockey rink. We can’t wait to see the park!
July and August:
Fall in with an active crowd – The Yukon style
In the summer we partnered with Travel Yukon to encourage people in Canada to bring their active crowd to the Yukon. The campaign included content highlighting the benefits of getting active in the Yukon with others and the various activities to do and locations to explore with your active crowd. Hear from Hailey Elise and Gurdeep Pandher about how getting active in the Yukon is better together.
September:
Sneak It In
In September we helped people in Canada sneak in small bouts of physical activity whenever, wherever and however works best for them through our Sneak It In campaign and physical activity challenge.
We hosted the challenge on the Optimity app, where nearly 13,000 participants tracked their move minutes.
October: Let’s make room to move and Change the Pace
Let’s make room to move
In October we launched our new brand platform, Let’s make room to move, to help people in Canada make physical activity a priority. As part of its launch, we introduced our Watch & Move campaign to help Canadians get moving while watching TV shows and videos or scrolling on social media.
Over six weeks, on-screen prompts suggesting exercises to try appeared on select cable and streaming TV shows and social media platforms. Did you catch any of them? If not, here’s one of them:
Change the Pace
Only 49% of adults and 39% of kids in Canada meet national physical activity guidelines. To change the pace and direction of physical activity levels in Canada, ParticipACTION and other national physical activity, sport and recreation organizations came together this year to form the Physical Activity Collective. Together, we’re calling on the federal government to make physical activity a national priority and help increase physical activity in Canada by a relative 15% by 2030 through the creation of an Active Canada Action Plan, Active Canada Task Force and Active Canada Fund. Visit ChangeThePace.ca to learn more.
November:
National physical activity summit
In November ParticipACTION hosted a national physical activity summit in Ottawa, where more than 80 attendees from across Canada contributed to developing an Active Canada Action Plan to advance physical activity in Canada. The Honorable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Physical Activity, endorsed the creation of the Action Plan and announced the formation of an Active Canada Task Force, co-chaired by the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity and ParticipACTION, to better advise on and monitor the progress being made toward increasing physical activity levels in Canada.
“The creation of the Active Canada Task Force is a vital step toward building a healthier, more active nation,” said Elio Antunes, ParticipACTION’s president and CEO. “ParticipACTION is proud to co-chair this initiative and looks forward to collaborating with the Minister of Sport and Physical Activity and partner organizations to ensure that strategies and funding are impactful and meaningful. Only when we make physical activity a national priority and adequately monitor our progress can we truly reduce barriers and make physical activity a part of everyday life for everyone.”
Making room to move in 2025
Thanks to our fans and followers, partners, stakeholders, funders, Board of Directors and the ParticipACTION team for your incredible support over the past year! We’re excited to work with and support you in 2025 to realize our vision of a Canada where physical activity is a vital part of everyday life for everyone.
Learn more about our 2024 programs and campaigns in our 2023-2024 Impact Report, and stay tuned for our 2025 initiatives, including a new app challenge in January, the sixth edition of the Community Challenge in June and the next ParticipACTION Report Card on Physical Activity for Adults in the fall!
