A part of every community

• 55% of boys and 44% of girls 15 years of age or younger, and 28% (7.3 million) of Canadians over the age of 15, are active in sport.
• 1.8 million Canadians coach amateur sport, 800,000 participate as amateur referees or officials, and 2 million volunteer their time as administrators or helpers in amateur sport.
• 18% of Canadians belong to a local club, community league, or amateur sport organization.
• 39% of active Canadians take part in over 250,000 sport events in Canada annually.

Largely supported by communities themselves

• Canada has 33,650 sport and recreation organizations that make up 21% of our non-profit sector.  71% of these organizations are local.
• Sport and recreation organizations engage 28% (5.3 million) of all volunteers in Canada – more than any other sector.
• Community sport volunteers each contribute an average of 143 hours a year to sport.
• 73% of sport organizations have no paid employees. 
• Sport and recreation organizations rely on governments for only 12% of their funding, compared with 49% for voluntary organizations overall.

Highly valued by Canadians

• 92% of Canadians believe that community sport can have a positive influence in the lives of youth.
• 72% believe that sport is a key contributor to quality of life in their communities.
• 57% believe that community sport currently reinforces positive values to a great extent.

A fundamental source of health and wellbeing

• 80% of sportspeople surveyed in 2004 rated sport as very important in improving their physical fitness and health.
• 70% described their health as excellent or very good, compared with less than 50% among those not active in sport.
• Adult Canadians who participate in sport average almost three hours of moderate and vigourous physical activity per week, and are likely meeting recommended activity levels.
• Children who participate in sport are more likely to reach recommended physical activity levels than those who do not.

A key positive factor in the lives of children and youth

• Canadians rank sport as the 2nd most positive influence in the lives of youth, after family.
• Over 80% of Canadians believe that promoting positive values in youth should be a priority for sport in Canada.
• 70% of parents feel their expectations of what sport should provide their children have been met or exceeded.

A significant contributor to Canada’s economy

• Canada’s sport sector accounts for 1.2% of GDP and provides 2% of all jobs, employing 262,324 Canadians.
  In 2004, Canadians spent $15.8 billion on sport – $1,963 per household.
• Almost 1/3rd of tourist trips to Canada in 2006 included participation in sport or outdoor activities.
• Workplace sport and fitness programs can reduce annual absenteeism by 1.6 days per employee, generating payroll savings of 1.1% per year.
• Increasing physical activity levels by 10% would save Canadians over $150 million annually in direct health care costs.

Under pressure

• Adult sport participation has declined from 45% in 1992 to 28% in 2005. 
• Over the same period, participation as sport spectators at amateur events has increased from 24% to 35% (9.2 million Canadians). 
• Sport participation rates peak at age 10 to 13, then decline steadily with age.  The main reasons youth do not participate are lack of time (34%) and lack of interest (30%).
• 71% of Canadians believe high cost is a major barrier to community sport participation.
• A 2002 Decima survey identified the following issues as the most serious facing community sport:  focus on winning/competition (16%), violence (10%), parental over-involvement (10%), parental under-involvement (7%), and poor coaching/leadership (6%).
• The following issues were identified as very serious:  harassment (38%), intolerance/racism (29%), lack of fair play (21%), and injuries (18%).