North Grenville is named Canada's Most Active Community!

The ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge awards North Grenville $100,000

TORONTO, July 26, 2021 /CNW/ - The ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge returned after a year like no other to inspire Canadians across the country to get physically active for their mental and physical health. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in Canadians leading a less active and more sedentary way of life, which has brought a significant and sustained decline in our physical activity levels.

This year's Challenge arrived at the perfect time to help communities get active together, even if only virtually. To help support local physical activity programming efforts, ParticipACTION distributed more than $600,000 in grants to over 1000 organizations from every province and territory. Almost 400 million physical activity minutes were tracked by over 376,000 participants throughout June, with North Grenville being crowned Canada's Most Active Community - taking home the top prize of $100,000 to go toward local physical activity and sport initiatives.

"Congratulations to North Grenville and all of our Provincial and Territorial winners," said Elio Antunes, President and CEO of ParticipACTION. "It was very gratifying to see so many people from across the country taking part in the Community Better Challenge, which provided a much-needed opportunity to inspire, motivate and support recovery and connection through physical activity."

"This edition of the Challenge is especially meaningful for us as this year marks ParticipACTION's 50^th anniversary," said Antunes. "Since 1971 we have been encouraging and supporting Canadians to get physically active. When communities engage in physical activity together, it helps reduce social isolation and boost the confidence and happiness of individuals by connecting them to others with common interests. These are essential benefits for all of us as we collectively recover from the effects of the pandemic."

Canada's Most Active Community

Located in Eastern Ontario, the Municipality of North Grenville is a small community that took up the challenge with gusto, generating over 9 million physical activity minutes with a population of roughly 16,000. Residents in North Grenville found creative ways to be active and bring the community together, like a 12-hour marathon tennis match and a cartwheel competition led by their Mayor!

"We are absolutely thrilled that North Grenville has been selected as Canada's Most Active Community," said North Grenville Mayor Nancy Peckford. "The COVID-19 pandemic has been tough on everyone, and the Community Better Challenge was a wonderful way to inspire and encourage families, seniors, youth and everyone in between to become more active. Thanks to the leadership of the Advisory Committee on Health, Wellness and Fitness, our community rallied, we went for gold and we are immensely proud of everyone's efforts," added Mayor Peckford.

This edition of the Community Better Challenge awarded additional prizes to the Most Active Community from each province and territory.

The 2021 winners are:

Vulcan, Alberta, prizing supported by the Government of Alberta
West Vancouver, British Columbia
The Pas, Manitoba
Sackville, New Brunswick, prizing supported by the Government of New Brunswick
Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland and Labrador, prizing supported by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
Hay River, Northwest Territories, prizing supported by the Government of Northwest Territories
Amherst, Nova Scotia, prizing supported by the Province of Nova Scotia
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Town of Three Rivers, Prince Edward Island, prizing supported by the Government of Prince Edward Island
Montréal, Quebéc, prizing supported by l'Alliance québécoise du loisir public (AQLP)
Milestone, Saskatchewan, prizing supported by the Government of Saskatchewan
Whitehorse, Yukon

The ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge is supported by the Government of Canada, Saputo Inc., the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Ontario Trillium Foundation (which is an agency of the Government of Ontario), and national media partner Corus.

About ParticipACTION
ParticipACTION is a national non-profit organization that inspires and supports Canadians to make physical activity a vital part of their everyday life. As Canada's premier physical activity brand, ParticipACTION works with its partners, which include organizations in the sport, physical activity and recreation sectors, alongside government and corporate sponsors, to help Canadians reduce sedentary time and move more through innovative engagement initiatives and thought leadership. ParticipACTION is generously supported by the Government of Canada. Learn how ParticipACTION has been moving Canadians for 50 years at ParticipACTION.com and download the free ParticipACTION app to access a fun, evidence-informed tool that empowers you on your physical activity journey.

SOURCE ParticipACTION