Local programs with a national reach.
Our Work in Canada
How we work with governments, schools, health systems, and communities to build lifelong participation in sport and physical activity.
Most of Sport for Life's work happens right here in Canada, from local community programs to large national projects. We work with governments, schools, health systems, newcomers, Indigenous and First Nations communities, recreation departments, and sport organizations to build physical literacy, quality sport, and lifelong participation in physical activity.
Government
For more than two decades, we've worked closely with federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to strengthen sport, physical activity, education, recreation, and health systems across Canada. Governments turn to us to develop evidence-informed strategies, deliver national and provincial initiatives, build workforce capacity, and create the cross-sector collaborations that improve physical literacy, increase participation, and advance inclusive, quality sport for people of every age and ability.
Education
Post-Secondary
Through our Post-Secondary Partnership Program, we work with post-secondary institutions across Canada to combine classroom learning with real-world application. Students in education, kinesiology, recreation, sport management, and related fields build workforce-ready skills and graduate with industry-recognized certifications.
Faculty can build our educational content directly into existing courses, delivering certification workshops at no cost to the institution, faculty, or students. Faculty get free teaching resources, and students gain physical literacy knowledge, certificate of completion, and National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) Professional Development (PD) points. Every student receives the certification workshop content through their program; those who want the full professional certification can earn it at a discounted student rate.
More than 20 post-secondary institutions across Canada now trust us to help prepare their students for the next step in their careers.
For more information fill out our Certifications form or contact thalia@sportforlife.ca.
Kindergarten Through Grade 7: Physical Literacy Certifications
Movement is one of the most powerful tools we have for improving children's physical, mental, and social well-being, but most young people today aren't active enough to benefit from it.
We train K-7 educators to build their skills and confidence in delivering physical literacy and physical activity, both in the gym and in the classroom, so they can equip children with the confidence, skills, and motivation to stay active for life.
Our in-person and online certifications, along embeded professional development inside the classroom delivered by physical literacy specialists, cover the fundamental movement skills every educator needs: how to build movement into other subjects (like practicing math through target-throwing games or spelling through bean-bag games), how to use brain breaks and outdoor education, and how to turn hallways and gyms into everyday opportunities to move.
School Sport Partnerships
With national sport team partners, we've built programming for in-school and after-school delivery. Junior Canucks Floor Hockey, a partnership with the Vancouver Canucks, and the Winnipeg Jets Street program bring new equipment and teacher training into schools across B.C. and Winnipeg, building both movement skills and hockey fandom.
Next Up Basketball delivers a weekly after-school program for students in grades 8 to 10, building basketball skills alongside a safe, supportive place to be after school.
Health
For more than a decade, health-sector funders have partnered with us, recognizing how much physical literacy, physical activity, and quality sport contribute to better health outcomes. These partnerships reflect a simple truth: movement supports physical, mental, and social wellbeing across every stage of life.
With government health ministries, health organizations, foundations, and community partners, we apply evidence-informed approaches that increase physical activity, prevent disease, improve mental wellbeing, and give more people the chance to build skill and confidence in movement.
Our Hospital Activation Program is one example. It gives hospital staff and patients the education, support, and resources to use physical activity during a hospital stay and after discharge, improving recovery, promoting mobility, and easing the transition from hospital care to community programs. Patients receive an activity prescription at discharge, then follow up with a Primary Care Network (PCN) community nurse to keep building a more active lifestyle.
New Immigrants
Global migration has increased in recent decades, and Canada has become a major destination for newcomers. Done well, sport and physical activity can help immigrant families build community connections, health, and a sense of belonging, reducing social isolation and easing the transition to a new country.
That opportunity is why we built our Engaging New-to-Canada Participants suite: workshops, on-demand eLearning, video tutorials, and checklists that support immigrants in sport and physical activity. Sport, recreation, immigration, education, and health organizations all use these tools in projects ranging from national initiatives like CO-PLAY and WRAPCAP to local programs like the Bell Starting Line.
We also created the New-to-Canada Long-Term Participant Development pathway (NLTD), built for sport and physical activity practitioners, recreation leaders, academics, and immigration-sector leaders across Canada.
Every resource we build is co-created with leaders from each sector and updated regularly to reflect how immigration and sport actually work today, both for the organizations supporting newcomers and for newcomers themselves.
Indigenous & First Nations
Sport has made progress toward becoming more inclusive, but systemic inequities, the lasting effects of colonialism, and ongoing barriers still limit access to quality sport and physical literacy for Indigenous peoples in Canada.
We partner with Indigenous organizations, communities, and leaders to celebrate Indigenous lives and support healthier Indigenous peoples and communities. Working with national and provincial sport organizations and community groups, we focus on Indigenous Long-Term Participant Development Pathways. With the Aboriginal Sport Circle, we've built resources and workshops to support this work, and we've partnered directly with sport organizations like Biathlon Canada to create sport-specific resources that give leaders a starting point for supporting Indigenous participants.
Quality sport and physical literacy start with the participant, so our work with each community reflects that community's own needs. Respectful relationships and co-designed, tailored approaches are what make this work succeed. It's also part of how we take responsibility for advancing reconciliation.
Recreation
Recreation is one of the most important entry points into physical activity and sport in Canada, and it delivers most of the country's grassroots programming. That gives recreation departments a central role in creating the spaces, programs, and relationships that make sport accessible to people of every age and ability, at the local level.
We build strong relationships with recreation organizations at the local, provincial, and national level, sharing knowledge, strengthening capacity, and aligning efforts so more Canadians get positive experiences that build physical literacy, support long-term participation, and help their communities thrive.
That work includes capacity-building through Physical Literacy for Communities initiatives across the country, certification and training built specifically for recreation staff, and our support for the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association's national framework initiatives.
Sport
A well-aligned sport system needs both top-down and bottom-up thinking, so national, provincial, territorial, and grassroots organizations can learn from each other.
Funded by Sport Canada, we build the frameworks, tools, and support that organizations across the country use to improve sport experiences and outcomes. Our work is grounded in the three Ps of Quality Sport: Good People, Good Programs, and Good Places. Instead of traditional sport structures built around performance alone, we help build safe, inclusive, participant-centred pathways focused on fun, for every participant at every level.
We support alignment in two directions. Vertically, we work with national, provincial and territorial, and grassroots sport organizations to strengthen the connection between policy, planning, and athlete development, building a consistent, developmentally appropriate path from the playground to the podium and into lifelong adult participation. Horizontally, we connect different sectors, sports, and organizations, so they can collaborate and share knowledge grounded in the latest sport science and best practices.
Through the Long-Term Development in Sport and Physical Activity framework, we help organizations across Canada adopt evidence-informed practices, prioritize participant wellbeing, advance physical literacy, and build quality pathways that lead to better sport, health, social, and educational outcomes.
Bring Sport for Life to Your Community
Every sector on this page started the same way: a conversation about what people in a specific community actually needed.
Governments come to us for policy and strategy. Schools come to us for training and curriculum. Health organizations come to us to make movement part of care. Recreation departments come to us to build capacity at the local level. Wherever you fit into that list, we likely already have a starting point built for you.
Reach out, and we'll help you figure out what that starting point looks like for your community.