The physical activity record of children and adolescents in Canada continues to be “undesirable”, despite a “slight improvement” noted since the end of the restrictions put in place in the context of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic , according to a report made public this Tuesday. The document, however, notes an increase in social and gender inequalities in young people’s access to an active lifestyle, particularly in the context of climate change.
The duty has obtained under embargo the 2024 edition of the Bulletin of physical activity in children and youth, produced by the organization ParticipACTION, which will be made public this morning. The document gives an overall grade of 39% to young people aged 5 to 17, which is equivalent to a “D+” — an “undesirable” grade, according to the authors of the report, who have been carrying out this exercise for more than fifteen years. years.
In 2022, in the heart of the pandemic, the organization awarded a “D” to young Canadians.
“It’s a slight improvement. But if we are at school, having a D or a D+, I think it’s not a good grade anyway,” says the D in an interview.r Jean-Philippe Chaput, of the Research Institute of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, who contributed to the writing of this report.
The authors of the document also note that young girls struggle more than boys to return to the level of physical activity they had before the pandemic. Thus, 57% of boys in the country devote at least 60 minutes per day to medium to high intensity physical activity, compared to 31% of girls, indicates this document.
“We do not yet understand why girls have not returned to their pre-pandemic level,” notes Mr. Chaput, according to whom programs “which particularly target young girls” will have to be put in place to encourage them to take an interest to physical activity.
The report also notes significant social inequalities in young Canadians’ access to various physical activities. 86% of children from high-income families participate in organized sport; a percentage that drops to 55% among those from low-income families, according to the report. “A huge disparity,” underlines the document.
“The cost of living has increased for everyone. So sport, for many families who are caught at each other’s throats, I don’t think it’s a number one priority,” notes the Dr Chaput. In this context, the report recommends “putting financial support mechanisms in place and promoting them to ensure low-income households have access to organized sports programs.”
Climatic changes
The report also urges Canadian authorities “to recognize that the impacts of climate change constitute an additional barrier to physical activity among children and young people where they live, learn and play.”
Increasingly frequent heat waves and torrential rains risk causing children to spend more time indoors, thus increasing their “exposure to screens”, the report warns. The document also emphasizes that the least well-off children — statistically less active — are those who are most at risk of experiencing these impacts, since they are more dependent on free, outdoor sports facilities to move around on a daily basis.
In order to tackle this issue, the Dr Chaput underlines the importance of improving the availability of physical activities in the country’s public primary and secondary schools. “Of course, at the family level, parents must be good role models for their children. But if there is a place to intervene, in my opinion, to have the most impact, it is at the school level, because children spend around eight hours a day at school,” he notes. . He also notes the importance of improving the physical education courses offered there.
Healthier travel
The report also highlights the importance of improving infrastructure for active transportation across the country, so that more children will make part or all of their journey to school on foot. or by bike, for example.
According to the authors of this document, 43% of parents surveyed indicated that “their children and young people go to and from school using only active transportation or a combination of modes of transportation.” A gap also exists between municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, where 50% of children use an active mode of transportation to get to school, and those of smaller size, where this percentage drops to 32%, in due to the lack of infrastructure to ensure safe travel on foot and by bike.
“The goal is to make a healthy lifestyle easier and safer for people,” so that more young people move in a more environmentally friendly way while burning calories, summarizes the Dr Chaput.