DCHP-3

Participaction

DCHP-2 (Nov 2012)

Spelling variants:
ParticipACTION, ParticipAction

n. — Administration, Sports, Education

a long-term federal program aimed at promoting physical fitness and health.

Type: 1. Origin — Participaction began in 1971 with the formation of Sport Participation Canada. The program was nationalized the following year and was retitled ParticipACTION, a name that could be used in both English and French. Participaction ran many initiatives to engage Canadians in physical activity in order to combat the high health-care costs of obesity and related diseases. In 2000, funding was cut for the program and in January of 2001, Participaction officially closed (see ParticipACTION Archives reference). In 2007, the Canadian government reinstated the program. The term is most prevalent in Canada according to internet domain searches (see Chart 1).
See also COD-2, s.v. "Participaction", and Gage-5, s.v. "Participaction", which are marked "Cdn".

Quotations

1973
In mid-March, the second ParticipAction project involved the slogan: "Walk around the world." Clarence Garvie, a retired teaacher who coordinated the project, said the slogan led to the involvement by 25,790 residents who bundled up against a chill wind and walked a total of 61.189 miles - an average of about 2.4 miles per person.
1982
Time was when physical fitness was consigned to left field. Women were by and large unfavorably disposed toward the matter and men sporting (?) crew cuts and ill-fitting, dull gray sweat suits were thought to be marching to the beat of a different drummer. Along came the redoubtable sixty-year-old Swede and Participaction and the running boom and aerobic dancing and quite suddenly fitness became a way of life for many people.
1991
Russ Kisby, president of Participaction, which promotes fitness throughout Canada, says, "the purpose of physical activity is to enhance health.[...]"
2000
Now the entire national office is being closed, effective tomorrow. ParticipACTION officials are blaming a series of budget cuts which reduced what had been $1 million in annual funding to $400,000.
2007
The famed ParticipACTION campaign that challenged Canadians to "keep fit and have fun" for nearly 30 years is officially back in the game, the federal government will announce Monday. Health Minister Tony Clement and Helena Guergis, the secretary of state for sport, are scheduled to announce more than $3 million in funding at a Toronto school that will bring the get-fit crusade back to life. "ParticipACTION is going to be a communications link to encourage all of us, whether we're two or 102, to be much more physically active going forward than we have been over the last 10 or 20 years," said Charlie Pielsticker, chairman of ParticipACTION's new board of directors. ParticipACTION was put to rest in 2001 after federal funds were cut off, but over the last year-and-a-half the non-profit organization has been preparing for a relaunch.
2013
Particularly in his constituency, he realizes that the cost of enrolling a child in a sport can be overwhelming. To respond to those expenses, he points out that the Federal government brought in the child tax credit and has also increased funding through Participaction and Canadian Tire Jumpstart, to help with equipment and registration fees.

References

Images

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 3 Jun. 2013

Chart 1: Internet Domain Search, 3 Jun. 2013