By John Weston
I spent years in Parliament believing government held the answer to a problem it was never built to solve. The problem is close to home, and the solution may be closer still.
The Understated Crisis
Something is wearing down the vigour of our young people, a little more each year. There’s no one enemy to single out; nobody campaigns for rising inactivity or loneliness. And yet loneliness, which the US Surgeon General has called an epidemic, deepens alongside depression, and the trend is crippling.
The numbers aren’t subtle. Statistics Canada reports that nearly half of Canadians live with at least one chronic condition. The Canadian Institute for Health Information projected that Canada would spend $399 billion on health care in 2025. That figure isn’t the crisis; it’s the financial bill for the crisis. And the people paying are getting younger. Statistics Canada's 2022 to 2024 Canadian Health Measures Survey found that only 21% of Canadians aged 12 to 17 met the recommended physical activity guideline, down from 36% in 2018 to 2019. Among girls, only 8% met the guideline.
The agency cautions that its methods changed between surveys, but even allowing for that, the direction is unmistakable: we’re paying for illness, and the deficits are physical, mental, and spiritual. We aren’t investing in proactive health. And a young person who doesn't move, doesn't belong, and sees no reason to hope is suffering on all three fronts.
Why the Government is the Wrong First Responder
Governments hold the levers, and the sums Ottawa can move are staggering. But the problem is structure, not scale. Governments are built to treat what’s broken. Ministries guard separate budgets. Four-year mandates reward results voters can see before the next election, whereas the real game-changer, proactive health, pays off over a generation.
This isn’t to criticise the people, many of whom are my friends. It merely describes the machine. I learned that the hard way. In 2014, both Houses of Parliament unanimously passed the National Health and Fitness Day Act, which I initiated with then-Senator Nancy Greene Raine. We celebrated. Then came the harder lesson: a law can name a day, but it can't move a child off the couch.
You’ve probably seen this before. A government that tries to supply hope, agency, and belonging by statute tends to crowd out the very things it hopes to produce. Those goods are made person-to-person, or not at all.
The Little Platoons
Throughout Grade 4, I missed a third of my school days due to bronchitis. My grandfather figured I wouldn't make it to fifteen. Then a visionary physiotherapist, Margaret Rutherford, gave me stretching exercises to expand my lung capacity and, counterintuitively, told my mother to put me in the pool. I started swimming.
In Grade 5 at St. George's School during a cross-country run, I remember announcing rather grandly to my teacher that I was slow and always would be. But supportive people and a school culture that treated physical activity as a core part of life changed that. By Grade 12, movement had become part of who I was.
Today I bike, run, swim, and ski with like-minded people. The movement helps me think, plan, and worship. The worship gives me hope. These things bring me into community, and community engagement is the antithesis of loneliness. No ministry or statute changed my life. It was a person who cared and a community that made movement normal.
Edmund Burke called this "the little platoon we belong to in society" and saw in it the beginning of every larger commitment of an individual to society. That spirit of citizenship starts with caring about the small group nearest the person: family, neighbours, a congregation, a team, or a club.
At CHFI, we think this spirit of connection grows when people move, belong, and nurture their wellbeing together.
That’s the work of civil society. In 2002, the Chief Mountain Challenge to the Nisga'a Treaty featured a conversation at Toronto's Empire Club. That conversation helped launch the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which citizens, not governments, have built and sustained.
The Canadian Health and Fitness Institute follows the same instinct: it convenes, connects, and strengthens partnerships to advance proactive health through movement, connection, and well-being.
It’s non-partisan, a point that matters more than it sounds. Last May, our annual National Summit on Parliament Hill drew speakers from as far away as Norway, Finland, and Australia, and all five federal parties co-hosted its reception. In November, I’ll be back in Toronto, this time at the Albany Club, with a new message about the freedom that comes from proactive health.
Across Canada, schools, municipalities, Indigenous organisations, researchers, and businesses already do good work to promote proactive health. But too often, they do it in silos, and good ideas in silos don’t spread. We at CHFI don't claim to have all the answers, but we’re working to help effective approaches reach more communities.
What You Can Do
The problems facing Canada are considerable, but none of us needs to wait for government to act. There are three practical ways you can help strengthen the communities that make proactive health possible.
First, consider giving toward CHFI’s work. We’re in the early stages of a $2 million campaign to build the partnerships, evidence, and national capacity needed to advance proactive health across Canada. Your gift of any size will help us connect and strengthen promising initiatives, bringing more opportunities for movement, connection, and well-being to Canadians.
Second, start your own little platoon. Lead a walk, coach a team, or organise an activity in your community. You don’t even have to start from scratch; simply invite someone who might benefit from exercise and companionship into your existing physical activity routine. You can also join the CHFI Community Hub to connect with others, coordinate activities, and encourage more Canadians to get involved.
Third, help us extend our reach. If you know an individual, employer, community leader, or foundation that shares our concern for the health of the next generation, introduce them to CHFI and the work we're doing. A personal introduction can open the door to partnerships that might otherwise never happen.
I believe the fundamental building block of a flourishing society is the individual, equipped with hope, agency, and a sense of belonging. Governments can't manufacture these things, but together, we can foster them in the lives of our fellow Canadians.
After all, a stronger Canada begins with people looking after one another.