Saskatchewan In Motion, which had been in existence for 18 years, working with almost every community in the province to promote physical activity, is no longer in motion.
The president of the volunteer board for Active Saskatchewan, which ran the program, says most of their funding came from the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority’s Community Initiatives Fund, but because all of the casinos had to close and there was no money coming in for many months of the pandemic, there was no money to give.
Saskatchewan Blue Cross was another supporter which didn’t renew its agreement.
Louise Humbert says the doors closed on March 31st.
She wrote letters to all of the province’s MLAs and to the Minister of Parks, Recreation and Sport, in hopes there could be some more reliable provincial funding, but only heard back from the NDP MLA from her riding and from the Minister.
She says Minister Laura Ross expressed her regrets, but had no ideas about would replace the breadth and depth of what Saskatchewan in motion had to offer.
Humbert suggests In Motion impacted every child in the province, through programs brought to families, schools and communities, and she believes Saskatchewan is now the only province without a comprehensive physical activity strategy for its people.
She says, “It’s staggering the impact Saskatchewan In Motion has had.”
Humbert listed 34 research projects, 200 community campaigns, 700 visits to 320 communities and 61,000 people logging their activity minutes.
(CJWW)