What's currently being done:

Federal Government

Canada's Government is promoting healthy eating and physical activity through initiatives such as the following:

• A revised Canada’s Food Guide, which provides useful information to Canadians on healthy eating, and the first-ever version tailored to the needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The Food Guide also emphasizes the importance of combining regular physical activity with healthy eating.
• $5 million to help fund the renewal of Participaction. This funding will support a renewed national public awareness campaign to encourage Canadians to maintain an active lifestyle.
• The Children’s Fitness Tax Credit. As of January 1, 2007, parents have been able to claim a tax credit on up to $500 of eligible expenses from sport and physical activity programs for each child under the age of 16, promoting physical fitness, including sport, among children.
• Investments through "Building Canada", a $33 billion infrastructure plan announced in Budget 2007 aimed at providing long-term, predictable and reliable funding to help provinces, territories and municipalities meet their infrastructure needs. The plan includes funding to support sports infrastructure and active transportation projects such as bike and rollerblading paths. Municipalities also continue to benefit from the 100 per cent GST rebate which they can apply to any infrastructure project, including those promoting a healthy lifestyle.
• In partnership with provincial and territorial governments, Canada’s New Government, through the Knowledge Development and Exchange component of the federal Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Initiative, makes significant investments in important FPT initiatives, including $875,000 in the Physical Activity and Sport Benchmarks/Monitoring Program.
• Supporting the annual WinterActive and SummerActive initiatives, which encourage Canadians to get involved in community-based healthy living activities across Canada.
• Canada’s Physical Activity Guides, including guides to help children and youth improve their health through regular physical activity.

Provincial Governments:

Provincial Governments are also doing their part. For example, the government of British Columbia has implemented the following initiatives:

ActNow BC

ActNow BC is British Columbia's Healthy Living initiative. The goal is to give British Columbians the tools and information they need to reach their personal health goals. ActNow BC is a cross-government health promotion initiative that seeks to improve the health of British Columbians by taking steps to address common risk factors and reduce chronic disease. ActNow BC supports schools, employers, local governments and communities to develop and promote programs that make healthy choices the easy choices for all British Columbians.

ActionSchools! BC

Action Schools! BC is a best practices model designed to assist schools in creating individualized action plans to promote healthy living. The program contributes to the health of children by integrating physical activity and healthy eating messages into the fabric of the school community, with the goal of providing children with a foundation for life-long healthy living.

Active Communities Initiative

This initiative will mobilize and support local governments and partner organizations in promoting healthy lifestyles, increasing physical activity levels amoungst British Columbians and developing supportive community environments.

Making it Happen: Healthy Eating at School

Information and resources for all audiences to help foster a school environment that supports good nutritional habits.

School Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program

A pilot program promoting healthy eating and increasing access to healthier school snacks. The program will provide one serving of B.C. grown fruits or vegetables twice a week to children at elementary schools around the province.

What Needs to be Done

The Childhood Obesity Foundation urges both provincial and federal government to:

Fund more treatment centres for childhood obesity.

• The latest Canadian Community Health Survey indicates that over 7% of our nation's children could benefit from obesity treatment, yet there are only a handful of treatment centers across the country.
• The government can play a key role in helping to correct this dismal situation by increasing support for research and evaluation of childhood obesity prevention and treatment initiatives.
• The government should promote the expansion of childhood obesity treatment centers and research regarding their efficacy and cost effectiveness. The government of Canada can facilitate a meeting of representatives from each of the various provincial programs in order to enhance knowledge transfer.

Support Research and Evaluation of initiatives to prevent and treat Childhood Obesity

The Childhood Obesity Foundation urges both the provincial and federal governments to increase support for research and evaluation of initiatives to prevent and treat childhood obesity. The Provincial government has a number of ongoing programs but they need to be rigorously evaluated.

• As more obesity treatment centers are created, they will need well-funded research and evaluation arm.
• The expanded Action Schools! BC requires rigorous ongoing evaluation
• The CIHR requires increased federal support in order to appropriately expand its role.

Improve Access to Affordable Fruits and Vegetables

The Childhood Obesity Foundation believes that government and other stakeholders should work together to improve access to affordable fruits and vegetables for families.