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State of the Sector Report

  • All
  • COVID-19
  • Cross-Sectoral Connections
  • Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
  • Health, Wellbeing & Development
  • Indigenous Peoples and Place-Based Outdoor Play
  • Outdoor Play Environments
  • Position Statement on Active Outdoor Play
  • Professional Development
  • Research & Data Collection
  • Safety & Outdoor Play

Thank you to Alexander Wray, H.BES, MA-Candidate (Western University, Canada) for providing this post and photo.   Canadian children and youth over the past decade have reported lower levels of physical activity than previous generations and are reporting a worrying decline in their overall mental wellbeing. These populations report spending less time outside than ever before, which...

In an article for healthing.ca, journalist Katherine Monahan discusses the importance of getting outdoors for children's health during COVID-19 with Dr. Mark Tremblay, chair of Outdoor Play Canada. 'It is absolutely critical for children’s health to get outdoors' says Tremblay. Monahan also interviewed Krystal Taylor, a spokesperson for Ottawa Public Health, who stated: “In fact, it is...

Thank you to Michelle E.E. Bauer, PhD Candidate (Interdisciplinary Health Science, University of Ottawa), for providing this post.   As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the physical and emotional wellbeing of Canadians across the country, conversations abound on how best to help families cope. Outdoor play, if done safely (only with household members and while adhering...

The 2020 Basecamp Conversations, hosted by the Canadian Outdoor Summit Leadership team, was a series of weekly conversations leading to the writing and publication of the ‘COVID-19 Principles and Emerging Practices for Led Outdoor Activities in Canada’ document. This document aimed to bring together those involved in outdoor led activities to share experience, wisdom, leads,...

Last week, Dr. Mariana Brussoni from the University of British Columbia spoke with Dr. Katherine Frohlich (University of Montreal) and Kate St-Arneault (PhD student, University of Montreal) about outdoor play during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the bilingual webcast, Dr. Brussoni, Dr. Frohlich, and Ms. St-Arneault discuss the consequences of physical distancing on their families' ability to...

The Child and Nature Alliance has published their first podcast in partnership with Evergreen Brickworks and the Trillium Foundation. This is the first of a series of podcasts that will focus on highlighting the Forest and Nature School pedagogy. In the podcast, host Stephanie Smith speaks with Gemma and Natalia, two youth play animators on their...

On March 18, 2020, BBC News wrote an article entitled 'Coronavirus: Should you let your children play with other children?'. In the article, journalist Robin Levinson-King, from Toronto, Ontario, describes how families are wrestling with whether or not they should let their children play with others given recommendations on physical distancing. Dr. Angela Pyle, an assistant...

March 16, 2020 10am Eastern/7am Pacific   On Saturday, March 14th, BC's provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry spoke to the public on ways to stay healthy while engaging in safe social distancing practices. In her announcement, she highlighted the observation that viruses do not transmit as readily outdoors. So, she suggests, 'go outside and play with your...

March 5, 2020 1pm Eastern/10am Pacific An emerging theme of recent Canadian Parks Collective for Innovation and Leadership (CPCIL) Park Leaders Development Programs is the need to support the mental health and wellbeing of people who work for park agencies, often on the front lines of climate change, natural disasters, and biodiversity loss and nearly always passionate...

The Canadian Outdoor Summit is an epic, national, historic project where participants are invited to excitedly co-create a reality where outdoor programs can thrive and be appreciated for their true worth.  The Summit will enable the creation of a more unified, national outdoor community and begin to remove roadblocks currently affecting outdoor programming. The national outdoor community...