August 8, 2022 | Dartmouth | Public Health Agency of Canada
Physical activity helps improve your health, well-being and quality of life. Being active is one healthy behaviour that can help reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer and diabetes. It is important that everyone living in Canada, especially those who face social and economic challenges, are given support to adopt and maintain healthy behaviours to address risk factors of chronic diseases.
Today, Adam van Koeverden, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, on behalf of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Health, alongside Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Seniors and Member of Parliament for Dartmouth - Cole Harbour, Darren Fisher, announced an investment of more than $1.7M for three organizations to support projects that focus on increasing physical activity and healthy eating among seniors, as well as in low-income neighbourhoods, and school communities, across Canada. This investment will support:
- The Canadian Red Cross Society with $1M for its Canadian Institute for Social Prescribing project that will focus on connecting vulnerable seniors, who are either experiencing are at risk of social isolation, to community based supports and services. The purpose of the project is to build a national network for knowledge sharing, training and collaboration related to risk factors for chronic diseases, specifically unhealthy eating and physical inactivity.
- ParticipACTION with over $434,000 for their ParticiPARKs project focusing on physical inactivity. The project aims to engage communities in low-income neighbourhoods in Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan in the design of free and accessible designated physical activity areas to encourage physical activity in nature.
- Physical and Health Education Canada with over $296,000 to engage children and youth and use existing infrastructure and community assets to identify and address the factors that are contributing to health inequities as well as to help school communities. These activities will take place in British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Quebec and improve the physical activity of students through a re-designed ReBOOT Schools program, which are designed to get participants engaged and excited about participating in physical activity.
