Active Kids Healthy Kids Bulletin - January 2009

To support partners and stakeholders of Active Kids Healthy Kids From Physical Activity, Sport and Recreation responsibility area of HPP The contents of this bulletin do not necessarily represent the position of Department of Health Promotion and Protection. Much of the content originates from other organizations and is included here for your reference. Active Kids Healthy Kids BULLETIN – January 2009 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. New Minister of Health Promotion and Protection Nova Scotians of all Ages Eligible for Healthy Living Tax Credit Annual Girls Healthy Living Week Fundy Active Communities Chronicle Children’s Yoga Teacher Certification Course You Could Be Featured in a ParticipACTION Commercial Making Great Strides (EGtoP) Nova Scotian Award Recipient featured in CPRA e-news Sticking to it 10. Put your New Year's resolution in the bag 11. Walking Conference Room Call for submissions: Please send content for this bulletin (celebrations, news, opportunities, job postings, announcements, etc) to: Natasha.Warren@gov.ns.ca 1. NEW MINISTER OF HEALTH PROMOTION AND PROTECTION Premier Rodney MacDonald announced changes to the cabinet on January 7. Pat Dunn joins cabinet as the Minister of Health Promotion and Protection. Minister Dunn is a former teacher and administrator and has a long history of community involvement with a special focus on sports and recreation. Mr. Dunn is also be Minister of Volunteerism Former Minister of HPP Barry Barnet is the new Minister of Energy. He is also the new Minister responsible for Conserve Nova Scotia. In addition, Mr. Barnet continues to be the Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs. 2. NOVA SCOTIANS OF ALL AGES ELIGIBLE FOR HEALTHY LIVING TAX CREDIT The Healthy Living Tax Credit gives Nova Scotians of all ages an added incentive to get more active in 2009. On December 16 Barry Barnet, Minister of Health Promotion and Protection, hosted an event in Dartmouth to encourage Nova Scotians to get active and take advantage of the tax credit, which has been extended to include adults who participate in fitness activities. Programs that qualify include any organized sport, physical recreation or physical activity program that is offered to the public by the government of Canada, the province of Nova Scotia or any municipal government within the province. A private or not-for-profit organization registered to do business in Nova Scotia is also eligible. This includes activities such as swimming lessons, dance classes, ski memberships, gym memberships, hockey registrations and many more. Adults and children who sign up for registered sport and physical activity programs in 2009 will receive a 8.79 per cent credit off registration fees. To get the credit, they must keep and submit the receipt as part of their 2009 tax returns. They will then receive a maximum tax reduction $44 per person. The maximum expenditure per individual will be $500. Registration fee receipts must be dated on or after Jan. 1, 2009 for an adult to get the credit. A list of provincial sport organizations, member groups, organized sports and physical recreation and physical activity organizations that are registered for the tax credit is available at www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/HealthyLivingIncentive.html. The Nova Scotia Healthy Living Tax Incentive was introduced in 2005, providing a credit for registrations of up to $150 in registration fees for eligible children's fitness activities. The maximum expense was increased to $500 in 2006. The expansion was announced as part of the 2008-09 budget. It is estimated the tax credit will generate a savings of more than $8 million per year for active Nova Scotians. E-Bulletin January 2009 2 3. ANNUAL GIRLS HEALTHY LIVING WEEK The week of February 16th – 20th is this year’s Girls Physical Activity Week. The purpose of the girl’s physical activity week is to provide a province-wide opportunity to highlight and promote the physical activity and healthy living opportunities available to girls in Nova Scotia. The physical activity week places emphasis on females ages 9 to 18, which as a group have the lowest rates of physical activity among all children and youth. The objectives for this event are 1. To increase community awareness about the importance of physical activity in children and youth, especially among girls. 2. To support and promote physical activity opportunities for girls within their schools and communities. 3. To provide an opportunity to bridge school and community resources for improving opportunities for physical activity (supporting Sport Animator initiative) 4. To provide an opportunity for girls aged 9 - 18 to try a new physical activity with little to no barriers. For more information on Girls Physical Activity week in your area contact the following regional organizers: Rachel Bedingfield (HRM) Anitra Dagley (Fundy) Jen Kelday (Valley) Cindy Comeau (South West) Owen Donat (South Shore) rachel.bedingfield@gov.ns.ca dagleya@ccrsb.ednet.ns.ca jen.keldday@avrsb.ednet.ns.ca comcindy@scolaire.ednet.ns.ca odonat@ssrsb.ca Success story: When Active Halifax Communities began Girls Physical Activity Week four years ago, The Yoga Loft was one organization to get on board in Halifax. Since then, The Yoga Loft has been offering a weekly Yoga for Girls class. Now they offer Moms and Daughters Yoga workshops for moms with daughters aged 6-10 years. 4. FUNDY ACTIVE COMMUNITIES CHRONICLE Check out how much more there is happening in the Fundy region! Fundy Active Communities Chronicle is posted on the HP Clearinghouse website. http://www.hpclearinghouse.ca/pdf/Active%20Communities%20Newsletter%20Vol%203.pdf Matt Pryde is the Fundy Active Communities Coordinator, based in Truro. He can be contacted at matthew.pryde@gov.ns.ca or (902) 896-2200 E-Bulletin January 2009 3 5. CHILDREN’S YOGA TEACHER CERTIFICATION COURSE If you would like to teach yoga to children of all ages, we are having a Children’s Yoga Teacher Certification Course on the weekend of February 21-22. This is with Tiffany McLintock, the founder of Teeny Yogini, who is flying in from Philadelphia to teach the course. The course is open to yoga teachers and non-yoga teachers, including school teachers, daycare leaders, recreation leaders, and parents who want to bring yoga into their family life. www.theyogaloft.ca The Yoga Loft, Suite 301, 5663 Cornwallis Street, Halifax. NS, 902-429-3330 6. YOU COULD BE FEATURED IN A PARTICIPACTION COMMERCIAL ParticipACTION recently launched their latest national awareness campaign Get Inspired, Get Moving. The English and French television commercials, airing nationally until March 2009, feature a montage of Canadian icons including Donovan Bailey, Farley Flex, Rick Hansen, Mary Walsh, Sebastien Benoît, Pierre Boivin, Geneviève Borne, Virginie Coossa, and Bruny Surin. The icons encourage Canadians to live a more active life and visit www.participACTION.com. Online at the Wall of Inspiration, anyone can submit their own stories with pictures or videos about how physical activity has improved their lives. A selection of stories from the Wall of Inspiration will be used in a series of commercials in 2009. ParticipACTION is asking you to spread the word. Let’s see Nova Scotia represented online and in the commercials! 7. MAKING GREAT STRIDES Since being awarded funding from CPRA in January 2008, the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (ARPA), Association québécoise du loisir municipal (AQLM), N.W.T. Recreation and Parks Association (NWTRPA), Parks and Recreation Ontario (PRO), Recreation PEI, Recreation Nova Scotia (RNS) in collaboration with Recreation New Brunswick (RNB), Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon (RPAY), and Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (SPRA) have began activities associated with their one-year demonstration site. The Provincial/Territorial Associations are working to develop and implement strategies to build and/or enhance organizational capacity to support member efforts in removing barriers to recreation for low-income families. NEW national website: www.everybodygetstoplay.ca and www.jeuxsansfrontieres.ca www.recreationns.ns.ca/everybody NS Webpage: E-Bulletin January 2009 4 Most recent developments for Everybody Gets to Play in Nova Scotia Created a draft document “Scan of Policies Related To: Access to Recreation for Low Income Children and Youth”in conjunction with Recreation PEI and Recreation New Brunswick. As part of the scan, has developed and conducted three online surveys looking to examine the degree to which municipalities, sport organizations, and not-for-profit groups in the Maritime Provinces provide services consistent with this policy direction. RNS is currently working on a draft report of the survey results and recommendations. To learn what other provinces are doing: English: http://www.cpra.ca/EN/main.php?action=news.eNews French: http://www.cpra.ca/FR/main.php?action=news.eNews 8. Canadian Parks and Recreation Association’s December Edition of E-News features the recipients of the Merit Awards, including Michael Arthur, Manager of Physical Activity at the Nova Scotia Department of Health Promotion and Protection. English: French: http://www.cpra.ca/EN/main.php?action=news.eNews http://www.cpra.ca/FR/main.php?action=news.eNews NOVA SCOTIAN AWARD RECIPIENT FEATURED IN CPRA E-NEWS 9. With January being a time of year when people reflect on making changes or make New Year's resolutions this information from Centre for Health Promotion, University of Toronto is a good source for information on behaviour change. English: French: http://www.thcu.ca/infoandresources/resource_display.cfm?resourceID=58 http://www.thcu.ca/infoandresources/resource_display.cfm?resourceID=59 STICKING TO IT E-Bulletin January 2009 5 10. PUT YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION IN THE BAG Want your goal to become a permanent lifestyle change by next December? Learn some tips from psychologist Dr. Michael Vallis based in Halifax, including how to become a broken record and "fog" those people who want to sabotage your efforts. For the article from Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada’s Healthline newsletter: http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?src=healthline&c=ikIQLcMWJtE&b=4016859&ct=6453017 11. WALKING CONFERENCE ROOM For anyone who has ever sat through a meeting with long-winded speakers and diet-busting doughnuts, Jennifer Baran offers an antidote. In her "walking conference room" there is no sitting through anything. Everyone is walking on treadmills or elliptical machines. From The Globe and Mail: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090105.LWTREADMILL05/TPStory/Life If you are not registered to receive the ActiveKidsNS bulletin from Recreation Nova Scotia, you are missing out. The January issue is a great feature on dance. To subscribe to this bulletin send a request to ldonnelly@recreationns.ns.ca E-Bulletin January 2009 6