According to Statistics Canada, children and youth are not meeting the daily physical activity recommendations needed for health benefits. From 2022 to 2024, only 33 per cent of males and eight per cent of females met the daily physical activity recommendations – a drop from four years earlier. For youth with disabilities, the statistics are even grimmer.
“How did we get here and how can we change this trend?” asked Professor Gretchen Kerr, dean of the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto, at a recent public symposium assembled to address this issue. “Physical education in the public school system was at one time the great equalizer - allowing children of all socioeconomic backgrounds to participate in movement activities and to learn important physical literacy skills for healthy lifelong living.
“We are now seeing a steep decline in physical education opportunities, creating more reliance on sport organizations outside of the school system to keep kids active –often with a price tag that significantly restricts access to so many Canadian youth.”
The discussion was moderated by media personality Donovan Bennett and featured Simon Darnell, a professor and director of the Centre for Sport Policy Studies at KPE, who produced the 2024 Change the Game research report in partnership with the MLSE Foundation, Jeffrey Caton, a KPE alum and principal of the John Polanyi Collegiate Institute, Melanie Davis, executive director and CEO of PHE Canada, and George Kourtis, a KPE alum and education officer for health and physical education in the Ontario Ministry of Education.
Bennett shared his passion for sport and reflected on the impact it had on developing his mentality and keeping him engaged and focused throughout his education, career and personal life.
He asked the panelists about the role of public policy in the current state of affairs. Darnell suggested that the new Canadian sport policy, endorsed by federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for sport, physical activity and recreation, offers reasons to be optimistic.
The policy envisions safe, inclusive and accessible sport opportunities for everyone throughout their lifespan that reflect the diversity of the people of Canada and have potential to redress social inequities. It also places value on fun, respect, fair play and ethical behaviour over excellence.
However, sport policy only goes so far in attending to the issue of inequality of sport participation, said Darnell.
“Inequality in sport is connected to broader, societal inequalities,” he said. “That’s why we have to imbed sport in larger discussions.”
Caton affirmed that kids tend to learn best from someone they can relate to.
“It’s important to build those relationships with students, but it’s also important for students to feel comfortable in the actual facilities where sport and physical activity happen,” said Caton. “We need to listen to youth about what impacts their ability to access sport.”
Kourtis added that it matters who is teaching physical education in schools.
“There’s a big difference in quality between someone who’s gotten 10 hours of instruction on how to teach physical education as a generalist and someone who has specialized expertise in the area,” he said. “Those are missed opportunities to develop physical activity literacy.”
How do we advocate for more physical activity and more resources in schools, Bennett asked.
“It’s incumbent on school administrators to make decisions about what is in the best interest of their students and community,” said Caton.
Davis indicated that part of the problem is that there is little accountability – and often little support - for teachers or schools to get students to be physically active. In response, Kourtis encouraged the audience to ask their children’s schools about their physical education programs and how many hours of physical activity their children are getting.
“We all have to be advocates,” he said.
Darnell suggested approaching the issue strategically.
“We know that sport and physical activity have positive cascading outcomes on education, health, the environment,” he said. “The limitation of that model is that you have to prove those impacts, but we can also just say that sport and physical activity are good in and of themselves.
“They are important to being a full human being.”
Bennett asked the panelists what they wanted the audience to take away from the discussion.
“Meet people where they are,” said Caton. “Ask them what motivates or scares them, really listen to them.”
“Continue to advocate,” said Kourtis. “Kids don’t care until they know you care.”
“Don’t underestimate the role you can play in modeling the behaviour you want your children to follow,” said Davis.
“Keep advocating for physical activity as fun and for a sport for all model,” said Darnell. “Access to enjoyable, inclusive movement is not only good for health and learning – it is a human right.”