Today, with the support of the Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities, the Canada Games Council (CGC) announced that after only three weeks, the Canada Games Activity Challenge, a Canada 150 Signature project, has received over 196 registrations from across Canada.

“A few weeks ago, we registered Hopewell Public School — the first school to sign on to the Canada Games Activity Challenge,” says The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with Disabilities. “It was exciting to see how enthusiastic the Hopewell students were about making sport and physical activity a part of their personal celebration of the 150th anniversary of Confederation. This initiative is a fantastic way to promote healthy living among young people across the country.  I can’t wait to see the positive stories the Activity Challenge will create.”

With almost 200 registrations from across Canada, teachers representing almost every province and territory have signed up for the Activity Challenge since the registration site launched on Nov. 17, 2016.

“We’re excited that our Activity Challenge has received such a great initial national uptake,” says Tom Quinn, Canada Games Council Chairman. “It's an indication that teachers truly understand how valuable this initiative is in supporting daily physical activity for youth in Canada. We can’t wait for the program to start in February 2017 to see children across Canada participate and engage in celebrating Canada’s 150th and the Games 50th while developing their physical literacy.”

Activity Challenge Ambassadors two-time Olympic medalist Jennifer Heil and two-time Paralympic medalist Bo Hedges, know first-hand how important it is to lead an active and healthy lifestyle.

“I am thrilled to see such excitement and engagement around the Canada Games Activity Challenge nationwide,” says Jennifer Heil. “It is great to see a program delivering essential support for teachers while helping to build children’s confidence, skills and joy for participation in physical activity.”

Since August 4th, the Government of Canada, in collaboration with an array of partners, has been counting down the last 150 days of 2016 with exciting announcements and events happening all across the country. To celebrate Day 25, the Canada Games Activity Challenge  ran a Boomerang campaign on social media where participants could show their excitement by recording a Boomerang video and using the #CGAC150 and #CANADA150 hashtags. The campaign will continue on December 8, 2016 with a Facebook Live Q&A with both Activity Challenge ambassadors at 11:50 am EST where kids across Canada can connect with Jenn and Bo.

A Canada 150 Signature Project, the Canada Games Activity Challenge is an interactive program designed to engage elementary children from Kindergarten to grade 7 in an effort to build daily active healthy habits. The challenge will feature three consecutive 1-month modules that will kick-off on February 13th nationwide. Schools have from now until January 27, 2017 to register their classrooms to participate in the Challenge. To do so, teachers and school officials can visit: canadagames.ca/activitychallenge.

Participants in the Canada Games Activity Challenge will stick to a daily activity program, based on the principles of physical literacy. These fun activities and interactive challenges are developed to build healthy, habit-forming behaviors in students and will empower teachers with a database of age-appropriate and skill-specific activities, linked to Canada’s Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model. Students will also participate individually at home, challenging themselves to accomplish personal bests. These efforts will be supported by a web-based application to help track participation and motivate—using the principles of gamification.

For more information about the Canada Games Activity Challenge, please contact   CGACinfo@canadagames2.ca.