The goal had been to log 243,000 hours, as a nod to the 243,042-kilometre length of Canada’s coastline.
So when the country collectively racked over 400,000 hours of physical activity as part of the Let’s Move Canada Challenge, a collaboration between the Canadian Health and Fitness Institute, Indigenous groups and fitness app Strava, organizers were blown away.
“Honestly, I was a bit of a skeptic, “ said John Weston, the institute's president and former Conservative MP for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country. “I never thought we would be able to attract that much participation, so that was really exciting.”
The event, which saw participants from around the country log their physical activity into fitness app Strava, spanned 19 days.
It ran from June 14 on National Health and Fitness Day - a day to increase education on the benefits of physical activity - until National Indigenous Day June 21, coinciding with the conclusion of National Indigenous Physical Activity and Awareness Week.
Weston, who collaborated with both the Indigenous Physical Activity & Cultural Circle and the Indigenous Health & Physical Activity Program at the U小蓝视频, said he hoped the event would raise awareness for institute's plan to beat unhealthy trends regarding sedentary behaviour, obesity, mental illness and outdoors deprivation.
“We’re dealing with horrible realities and statistics. COVID exacerbated loneliness, depression, anxiety, and mental illness,” he said. “There is evidence of a decay that is deep rooted, and that’s why I’m passionate about working to change those trends. A third of Canadian youth are overweight or obese. We need to change the whole narrative, and it’s up to us as citizens to change the narrative and get behind the cultural shift.”
Despite Weston's dedication to improving the country’s collective approach to fitness, he said it is only since collaborating closely with Indigenous groups that he has learned the importance of taking a more strength-based approach to improving physical, mental, and spiritual health. He has also come to understand the power of community when it comes to achieving such health related goals.
Rosalin Miles, founder and executive director for the Cultural Circle, said Indigenous communities have long looked at physical activity as something that can be incorporated into their daily lives, and done with family, friends, and the wider community.
“We always advocate that, for people to be physically active. We need to promote it within the family setting, or in a community setting, because that really helps support adherence and motivation,” she said. “What the nation can learn from Indigenous people on being physically active is that we come at it from a holistic lens perspective, and that the benefit to being intrinsically active isn’t just going to the gym. To be active is about spending time with your family, and really being connected to your spiritual, emotional, mental and physical well being.”
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the .
