You must enable JavaScript to view this website.

Policy

To reduce the spread of COVID-19, public health authorities across the country have recommended that Canadians keep their distance, wash their hands, and stay home. To enforce these measures early in the pandemic, restrictions on outdoor behaviour were implemented, limiting access to parks, playgrounds, conservation areas and recreational outdoor spaces. Counterbalancing efforts to create more...

The Children and Nature Network hosts the annual Inside-Out International Conference and Leadership Summit; the largest gathering of nature connection advocates in the world. Conference themes focus on ensuring that children have access to the many benefits of nature and inspire new generations of environmental stewards. In 2020, their conference was held online and focused on...

On September 30th, 2020, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Hon Steven Guilbeault hosted a Sport Community Town Hall to discuss how the federal government will assist in the sport community’s recovery from the impact of COVID-19. Ahead of the Town Hall, members of the community were invited to submit proposals on how Canada may address the...

In their latest article for The Conversation, Dr. John J Reilly, Professor of Physical Activity and Public Health Science, University of Strathclyde, and Dr. Mark Tremblay, Professor of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, discuss the negative effects COVID-19 related restrictions have had on children's cardiorespiratory fitness. Cardiorespiratory fitness, the authors explain, is...

The Child in the City Biannual World Conference aims to share knowledge, good practice and research findings from the various disciplines that are important to the shared aim of creating child-friendly cities. Central themes of this conference include connecting green and play, children’s mobility and sustainable futures, urban parenting to urban planning, and immigrant families...

Thank you to Murry Burgess (North Carolina State University), Rachel Szczytko (Pisces Foundation), and Kathryn Stevenson (North Carolina State University), for providing this post. Do children in your life spend time outside? What do they do? Maybe they go on family hunting trips, play organized sports, or spend time alone in the backyard. New research shows...

Outdoor Play Canada, before its formal organization, was responsible for the development and release of the Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play in 2015. This Statement had a significant impact on uniting the Outdoor Play sector, providing direction and a common purpose – promoting children’s healthy growth and development through outdoor play. To build on and...

On August 26, 2020, Tim Gill, an independent researcher and International Play Association member, and Robyn Monro Miller, President of the International Play Association, released their study report: 'Play in Lockdown: An international study of government and civil society responses to Covid-19 and their impact on children’s play and mobility'. The study collected data from 25...

This blog provides a brief overview of an article published in Health Reports on July 15, 2020: “Exercise and screen time during the COVID-19 pandemic” by Rachel C Colley, Tracey Bushnik and Kellie Langlois. Thank you to Dr. Colley for providing this post. Background Life changed dramatically in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seemingly overnight,...

OTTAWA, 29 July 2020—The Healthy Transportation Coalition is asking that any federal stimulus money be invested in healthy transportation projects and affordable housing, and not in road projects to increase car capacity. In a letter to Ottawa City Council, the Ottawa Board of Health, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Vera Etches, and Minister of Infrastructure and Communities of...