Canadian Health and Fitness Institute
Grant program: Community Grants
Funded by: Mayor’s Endowment Fund and Howard Martin Memorial Fund
The Canadian Health and Fitness Institute inspires active citizenship to enhance the physical, mental, and spiritual health of all Canadians to make Canada the fittest nation on earth by 2030.
Let’s Move Canada engages Canadian’s to be active. Across the North Shore and West Vancouver people engage to be healthier, happier and more connected to our beautiful community. Our community is a leader in providing opportunities for health and fitness. In 2022 , West Vancouver was 3rd in the national ParticipACTION challenge, awarding West Vancouver $15,000. This year we hosted a National Forum on Health and Fitness.
The first ever National Forum on Health and Fitness, which took place over three days, in West Vancouver: May 28th, June 1st, and June 2nd.
Among other things, we succeeded in rallying key West Vancouver community builders, each of which contributed a specific and valuable dimension to our message about the fundamental importance of physical activity to the physical, mental, and spiritual health of West Vancouver residents and all Canadians:
- WV School Board
- LARCO/Park Royal
- Mayor and Council
- Enhance West Van and the West Van Community Centre
Over a week of in-person sessions, participants addressed concerns about Canada’s widespread physical inactivity, urging a collective effort to tackle this now-pressing issue.
“In addition to impacting our physical, mental and emotional health, inactivity has social, economic and environmental consequences that are not just individual but take a toll on entire communities,” “One solution is very clear: Canadians need to move, and we need to move more. To do that, we need to make the active choice the easy first choice.”
At the forum, attendees enjoyed engaging lectures and discussions, as well as musical performances by Juno Award-winning singers Shari Ulrich and Dana Powell.
The event is one of nine projects currently underway by CHFI, whose mission is to “Make Canada the Fittest Nation on Earth by 2030.” While the first edition took place on the North Shore, the forum will switch to Toronto next year.
