Healthy Living Unit

Federal/Provincial/Territorial Collaboration

Responsibility for sport and physical activity is shared across all levels of government (federal, provincia/territorial and municipal) and responsibility for recreation rests with the provincial/territorial governments. So close collaboration with provincial/territorial counterparts is a key priority of the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Healthy Living Unit (HLU).

Federal-provincial/territorial (FPT) policy direction is established by federal, provincial and territorial Ministers responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation at their annual conferences.

Working primarily through two vehicles – the Interprovincial Sport and Recreation Council, and the Physical Activity and Recreation Committee – the HLU and its FPT partners work to implement Ministerial direction by sharing information, discussing new potential avenues of co-operation, coordinating policy development, and implementing joint policy initiatives in the areas of sport, physical activity and recreation.

These committees, along with an FPT Sport Committee federally co-chaired by Sport Canada, also examine the direction of physical activity, sport, and recreation development in Canada, and make recommendations to Ministers on FPT initiatives.