Focus-group participants described how the design and condition of their communities’ physical spaces, such as streets, parks, and recreation centres, directly impacted their ability to be active. Participants made it clear: being active isn’t just a matter of motivation, but it depends on having safe and inclusive places to move. For many, those spaces don’t exist in their communities.
This section focuses on recommendations to improve practices that affect access to and experiences within physical activity environments.
Participants also highlighted that distance to programs and facilities is a barrier, especially in rural, remote, and underserved urban communities. While programs and facilities may exist, they are often located too far from where families live and the time and energy to make it all work are factors that are not equally distributed across populations.
We need indoor playgrounds. An indoor jogging area, walking areas, we need it, we don’t have that.
Newcomer/refugee parent
More local recreational programs and sports activities should be introduced in Afghan communities, especially those that offer diverse activities like soccer, swimming, and gymnastics. Reducing travel times by having programs closer to home would make it easier for families to participate.
Newcomer/refugee parent
The Recommendations:
- Build and maintain local recreation infrastructure. Indigenous recreation and sport leaders recommend ensuring every community has access to safe, accessible, and culturally relevant facilities – walking trails, sports fields, bike paths, and more – to support skill development and youth success.
- Newcomer and refugee families hope for an expanded number of indoor playgrounds, covered parks, and walking tracks – especially in neighbourhoods with large newcomer populations.
- Remove transportation barriers to support equitable access. Families wished for transportation support such as shuttle buses, to ensure they can travel safely and affordably to recreation programs.
- Rural and remote families recommended that provincial and municipal governments subsidize or provide low-cost options to help youth travel to recreation sites safely and reliably.
- Families impacted by low income recommended the following transportation considerations:
- Include transit and transportation as part of program delivery to overcome mobility barriers.
- Expand transportation access, bus routes, bus stops, and bike paths to all recreation centres, pools, and gyms.
- Use physical activity to build strong, connected communities. Centre programming around shared experiences – group games, feasts, and land-based activities that foster togetherness and community pride.
- Increase availability of local, accessible, and culturally relevant programming. Address waitlists for popular activities, reduce travel time by expanding local options, and ensure programs are located near newcomer communities.
- Make inclusion the default across all recreation services – not the exception. Mainstream community centres must proactively include children with disabilities by embedding adaptive approaches into their core offerings.
- Improve the safety of community spaces to support active living. Participants emphasized the need for clean, well-maintained, and safe public parks – including access to usable bathrooms and regular removal of hazards such as drug paraphernalia – to ensure these spaces are welcome and usable for families.
Where I live, we’re a little bit more remote. We’re 25, 30 minutes from town, so we have to travel to town to access any sports programs.
Indigenous Sport and Recreation Leader
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