BACKGROUNDER FOR KEY MESSAGE 2 –

INCLUSIVE AND ACCESSIBLE SPORT, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND RECREATION

 

STRENGTHEN COMMUNITIES – Build social capital and inclusion through a more inclusive and accessible sport, physical activity and recreation system.   

 

•       Sport is woven into the fabric of every community in Canada.  Canada’s has 33,650 sport and recreation organizations (71% local) that, together, engage more volunteers (5.3 million) nationally than any other sector. Almost three-quarters of these organizations have no paid employees at all.[i]

 

•       72% of Canadians believe that sport is a key contributor to quality of life in their communities,[ii] because it brings individuals and communities together, creates a sense of community, encourages active citizenship, and fosters trust, reciprocity, and a sense of security among community members.

 

•       Sport helps to strengthen communities by building social capital and fostering inclusion of vulnerable groups.  This is important because places with more social capital are generally safer, better governed and more prosperous than those with less.[iii]

 

•       In small rural and remote communities, sport helps to foster local unity and pride while, in larger urban centres, it helps to break down barriers, enabling newcomers to integrate more quickly into Canadian society, people with disabilities to challenge negative stereotypes and become more independent, and children and youth at risk to gain positive role models and important life skills. 

 

•       To deliver these benefits, however, our sport system has to be accessible and inclusive itself. Currently, Canadians are concerned that too many people are excluded from community sport, with 71% citing cost as a major barrier.[iv]

 

 

WHAT YOUR PARTY CAN DO:

 

1.     Adopt explicit policies, programs and funding criteria to make community sport and physical activity more accessible – giving particular attention to those most vulnerable to exclusion (e.g. people with disabilities, low-income families, isolated seniors, people living in rural and remote communities), who stand to benefit the most from access to good sport opportunities.

 

2.     Invest in informal sport and physical activity – building neighborhood infrastructure and opportunities for Canadians to access free or low-cost informal sport and recreation amenities and activities, as well as affordable introductory instruction that will encourage and enable them to be more active.

 

3.     Include sport, physical activity and recreation programs in strategies to support children and youth at risk – helping them gain life, leadership and work skills; providing an alternative to youth gangs and crime; and fostering civic participation.  Make communities with high concentrations of kids at risk top priority when investing in community sport infrastructure and programs.

 

4.     Support community sport volunteers – by investing in volunteer education, training and supports; putting in place a web portal to streamline and reduce the cost of volunteer police checks; and introducing tax measures to help defray volunteer costs so that all Canadians can participate and contribute.

 

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[i] What Sport Can Do: The True Sport Report, Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, September 2008, p.16.

[ii] Ibid, p.40.

[iii] Ibid

[iv] Ibid, p.12

 

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