Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to finish off this session with a real good, feel good news story. It’s about a small office in the Northwest Territories that has been doing great work in getting Northerners very active and can potentially have a big impact across this nation.
The most recent Walk to Tuk Challenge involved over 1,600 NWT participants from 17 communities on 102 teams. Seventy-three of those teams were successful in reaching Tuktoyaktuk, walking a grand total of 207,808 kilometres. Calculating in hours of exercise equalled about 48,918.5 hours of exercising. On average, each participant accumulated 245 minutes of weekly exercise, which is 95 minutes more exercise than the 150 minutes that are recommended by the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines for adults aged 18 to 64. This was all done during the darkest and coldest times of the year.
As the NWT embarks on the fifth anniversary of this successful program, it is my pleasure to announce that the NWT Rec and Parks Association’s Walk to Tuk Challenge has been selected as one of six finalists in the Play Exchange program and will be showcased on a national television show in January 2015 and will be eligible for up to $1 million to launch this program nationwide.
This is huge not only for the NWTRPA and addressing active living in some of our health issues but it also has a big impact for possible tourism in the Northwest Territories.
The Play Exchange is a national online challenge that was launched in February of 2014, to fund and support creative ideas to get Canadians living healthier lifestyles. Some highlights of this Play Exchange challenge, in fact the Walk to Tuk Challenge was chosen out of over 400 submissions from across Canada, and the top six finalists each receive mentoring and support from the LIFT Philanthropy Partners to develop a strategic plan for their idea.
Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to conclude my statement.
---Unanimous consent granted
As I said, the challenge will be featured on a CBC Television program and it will be won by voting online.
This is a made-in-the-NWT event that can affect all Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
I would like to personally encourage all Northerners and friends of the NWTRPA to vote when voting starts. I would also like to thank Sheena Tremblay, Geoff Ray and all the staff and volunteers of the NWT Rec and Parks Association who have made this challenge a success. We should support this program and be the national leaders in addressing high obesity rates and mitigate the high chronic diseases and conditions that affect all Canadians. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Moses. Member for Hay River North, Mr. Bouchard.
