A Framework for Recreation in Canada 2015 - Pathways to Wellbeing

The Framework for Recreation in Canada was a joint initiative of the Interprovincial Sport and Recreation Council and the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association.

Recreation provides multiple pathways to wellbeing for individuals, for communities, and for our built and natural environments. This paper and the Framework for Recreation in Canada 2015, which it describes, allow for a timely re-visioning of recreation’s capacity for achieving wellbeing.

Recreation has the potential to address challenges and troubling issues such as increases in sedentary living and obesity, decreased contact with nature, and inequities that limit recreation opportunities for some population groups.

Doing this requires a clear understanding and commitment to a shared vision, values and goals, as well as the development and implementation of action plans. The Framework provides a foundation for reflection, discussion and the development of such action plans.

The first part of the paper presents a renewed definition of recreation and explores the challenges and benefits of recreation today. It provides the rationale for investing in an evolved recreation strategy, and describes the need for collaboration with other initiatives in a variety of sectors.

The second part of this paper describes a Framework for Recreation in Canada. The Framework provides a new vision and suggests some common ways of thinking about the renewal of recreation, based on clear goals and underlying values and principles.