Last week I had the honour to help facilitate a consultation on the Active Canada 20/20 National Physical Activity Strategy at Alberta’s Action on Wellness Symposium. For those who may not be familiar with Active Canada 20/20, I would definitely encourage you to check out the website.
This strategy is being developed by a steering committee of organizations and stakeholders around the country who feel that Canada needs a physical activity strategy. Other countries have strategies (e.g., USA, Scotland) and we need one too.
The goal is to provide clear direction and vision on helping to increase physical activity opportunities and reducing sedentary behaviours. It is planned that this strategy will be presented to the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Ministers responsible for physical activity in their jurisdiction in April 2012.
During the summer months there was an online survey to gather feedback on the Strategy. Now the steering committee is taking the consultation process further by hosting facilitated consultations in many of the provinces and territories. Alberta was fortunate enough to host the 3rd consultation just last week in Banff.
As you might guess, the purpose to the consultation was to get some direct feedback from practitioners and decision makers in the physical activity field on the Active Canada 20/20 strategy. It was a very busy three hour facilitation process, but fantastic to hear all the ideas and suggestions that emerged.
By chance or luck, there was a large group of high school students who were able to participate. What a fantastic addition to the process! Even though some of the concepts being discussed were at a policy and organizational level, many of these students were able to provide clear and original suggestions.
Currently the Active Canada 20/20 is in draft format, so this is the perfect time for YOU to provide some feedback of your own. So, even if you did not make it to the consultation process, I encourage you to review the strategy and share your ideas and suggestions.
You can access the most current draft here: http://www.activecanada2020.ca/home/documents
And you can provide feedback to this email: info@activecanada2020.ca
