Vital Role of Physical Activity and Sport
Inquiry--Debate
February 10, 2026
Rose pursuant to notice of Senator Deacon (Ontario) on December 4, 2025:
That she will call the attention of the Senate to the vital role that physical activity and sport play in enhancing our well-being, strengthening our communities and shaping the fabric of the Canadian experience.
She said: Honourable senators, the Olympic Winter Games have begun in Milano Cortina. Canadians from coast to coast to coast are gathering around televisions in schools, community centres and living rooms to cheer, of course, for athletes wearing the maple leaf, but also for athletes from over 90 countries. We will cheer as they create moments of “wow.”
For these few weeks, sport will do what it does best: inspire us, encourage us to dream and, most importantly, bring us together across differences of language, region and background, reminding us of our shared pride and common identity. It welcomes us all in.
Sport has been one of the greatest teachers of my life. The collective interest in the Olympics, the Paralympic Games and World Cup tournaments reminds us why sport and physical activity matter so deeply to Canadians and should flag to us why we should value them as more than just games.
Not all Canadians play sports — although I wish they did — and they don’t all watch or even follow sports. Yet, overwhelmingly, we understand what sport does for people.
In Davos, just before our Prime Minister gave a globally significant speech, he was introduced as a hockey player with the ability to know where the puck is going and to remain calm in fast-moving, high-pressure moments. That he was an athlete was a complement to the rest of his career achievements. Why? What do sport and activity bring to us as Canadians?
Senator Deacon, Senator Petitclerc and I have started this inquiry, calling the attention of the Senate to the vital role that physical activity and sport play in enhancing our well-being, strengthening our communities and shaping the fabric of the Canadian experience, with the goal of hearing from you. How has sport and activity shaped you and your Canadian experience?
I have countless stories to share about how sport has shaped my life, and the stories that stand out to me are not the highlight reels. They are often the experiences that happened before the races, behind the scenes and far away from the field of play. They are the moments that happened innocently but taught me great life lessons. For rowers, racing in Lucerne, Switzerland, is special. The Rotsee is our Wimbledon. It is revered.
In the year that Kathleen Heddle and I were just starting to win races, we arrived there as unknowns. Our first race in Lucerne was a terribly unfair heat. The draw put us against gold, silver, fourth and fifth from the previous year’s world championships. But we surprised everyone when we won that heat with apparent ease.
Next, in the semifinal, we beat the rest of the top challengers and advanced to the finals the next day. There was a buzz around the boat sheds. People were talking about us and pre-emptively anointing us not only as the Lucerne champs but also as the next world champions.
I heard the buzz and tried to keep my cool — so did Kathleen. But that night, as we tried to sleep, we spoke in the dark of our hotel room. I said, “We beat everyone already.” She quietly responded, “Yes, I know.” I said, “People are saying we are going to win and that we’re going to be the next world champions.” Kathleen said quietly, “Yes, I heard that too.” And then I said that thing that people try not to admit: “I’m scared,” I said. “Me too,” came from Kathleen.
This moment was such a revelation for me. I had such respect for Kathleen Heddle, and if she was scared, then it was okay to be scared.
I learned that fear wasn’t a problem; it was along for the ride like many of my other emotions, like excitement and curiosity.
To this day, the most important piece of advice I share with anyone taking on any difficult task is that fear and doubt are a normal part of the path. You don’t need to make them go away, just turn down the volume.
My involvement with sport showed me what is possible when dreams are met with support and opportunity. As a parliamentarian, I can promote the fact that sport and physical activity are not merely recreation. It is public policy. It is health policy. It is social policy. And increasingly, it’s a question of equity, safety and trust.
The benefits of sport and physical activity are well established. Participation improves physical and mental health, reduces social isolation, keeps youth in school and supports lifelong well-being. It builds confidence, leadership and resilience in young people. It strengthens communities, particularly rural, northern and Indigenous communities, where sport and physical activity often serve as social infrastructure and provide shared civic space. At its core, sport brings us together in a good way.
There are many things in our communities that divide us into silos: culture, faith, politics, economic status and geography. Sport and activity have the ability to connect us and to bring us in, collectively spellbound by the simple consequence of how a game — be it professional or peewee — is going to go and how we felt watching it, even feeling it, together.
I was introduced to this collective pride when we returned home to Canada after the Barcelona Olympic Games with my first two gold medals. I was blown away by the reaction from Canadians. The fact that people had been watching rowing and knew who I was — that was crazy. And what they were saying, I didn’t expect.
I could have expected people to say “congratulations,” but what we heard over and over again was “thank you,” such as “We were jumping up and down on our couches cheering, and we had so much fun together. Thank you.”
“Thank you for making us feel proud to be Canadians.”
And I’ll never forget meeting a couple who told me that they had just become Canadian citizens, and this was their first opportunity to cheer for Canada — their new home. They said “thank you” to me. What perspective they gave me. Decades later, I still want to thank them.
Those experiences echo what our former colleague Senator Omidvar so powerfully described in this room about the vital role sport played in her family’s journey of inclusion in Canada. It was on the soccer pitch, watching her daughters play, where she met and connected with other parents and families. Through that team, the Omidvars found a sense of belonging, shared purpose, mutual support and the feeling of being truly included. That is sport and physical activity at its best.
But the evidence tells us that this experience is not universal. The Rally Report from Canadian Women and Sport highlights a persistent gap in participation between boys and girls, particularly during adolescence. While many girls begin sports at similar rates to boys, participation drops sharply in the teenage years. Women remain under-represented in coaching, officiating, governance and senior leadership across Canadian sport.
Cost, time pressures, a lack of safe and welcoming environments, limited access to female coaches and sports cultures that prioritize performance over enjoyment all contribute to this decline. This is not a failure of women and girls. It is a failure of the systems we have built around them.
The modern way of including is to include in ways that are flexible. We must stop expecting people to contribute and behave in the same way that we contribute and behave. Sport teaches us that strong teams aren’t a result of meeting in the middle. They are about creating space, adjusting our approaches and moving together toward a shared goal.
I learned this from my rowing partner Kathleen Heddle. Kathleen was an introvert; I am not. She was calm and quiet. I thought I needed to show her how to be competitive and aggressive like me. Whoa, that was a mistake. It could be a much longer story, but I’ll just say that when I started paying attention, I saw that Kath was the strongest competitor and the most aggressive Canadian rower ever. Kathleen didn’t need to demonstrate or communicate to me the way I communicated to her. That just wasn’t who she was.
I learned that relationships are not 50-50; we give 100% of what we’ve got, and we earn the same from those around us. We focus on people’s strengths and protect their weaknesses.
When we stopped trying to reshape one another and instead leaned into what each of us naturally brought, we became stronger, faster and more cohesive as a team. Our success came not from sameness but from complementarity — from trusting that different personalities, instincts and approaches could combine into something greater than either of us alone. This is learned through sport and applied to everything else.
The Rally Report echoes this: Including people in sports and activities, and thus keeping them active, means including them in the way that they want to express themselves, whether they’re an introvert or extrovert. How they express their faith or the way an athlete does their hair, nails or makeup doesn’t make them any less fierce a competitor. What a person wears to participate is far less important than the fact that they are participating.
At the same time, other reports such as the Future of Sport in Canada Commission’s preliminary report and Jumpstart’s State of Youth Sport in Canada highlight structural barriers that limit access. They confirm that while youth sport delivers enormous physical, social and emotional value, the financial and time demands placed on families are increasing, which too often determines who can take part.
Sport and activity are more than a game. We need to remember its value and nurture it and make choices that keep it accessible to all.
Yet even as evidence indicates that sports and activity are underfunded and participation is challenging and even declining in some areas, the sport and activity community asks us to believe there can be a victory ahead.
What emerges from the Future of Sport in Canada Commission’s preliminary report is a clear direction for renewal — one that places participation at the centre of our sports system, recognizes community sport as the foundation of excellence and treats athlete well-being as fundamental rather than optional. It is a direction that asks governments, sports organizations and communities to move forward together.
At the federal level, this means using the tools we already have in ways that reflect these priorities. Many ministers could recognize the positive impact that an increase in activity would have on their portfolios. Sport Canada funding can be structured to value participation, retention and equity alongside high performance.
Federal-provincial-territorial agreements can support community sports infrastructure, coach education and inclusive programming, helping to ease cost pressures and strengthen local capacity, particularly in rural, northern and underserved communities.
My personal journey in sport took me to Olympic podiums — and those were truly great moments — but I’ve also played at schools, coached young kids and cheered for my daughter. The true legacy of sport is not found in medals but in participation, belonging and the communities that it helps build every day.
If we take the lessons of the Rally Report, the Future of Sport in Canada Commission and the State of Youth Sport in Canada seriously, we can build a sports system that is healthier, more inclusive and more trusted.
Heed the words of King Charles III:
We owe it to this generation, and those who succeed us, to think and act for the greater good of all.
We can build this, but we have to act together. That is not just good sport policy. It is nation building.
I will close by saying thank you.
Thank you to the athletes, coaches and families of Team Canada at the Olympic and Paralympic Games. What you do at the games is more than just chasing your dreams. You give a nation a reason to feel hope and pride together.
Thank you to the athletes in the upcoming Arctic Winter Games being held in Whitehorse this March. I will be attending these games and am excited to watch athletes from the Northwest Territories, Yukon, Greenland, Alaska and other Arctic nations display athletic excellence, culture and cooperation across the circumpolar world. At a time of heightened global tensions, these games remind us that sport can serve as a quiet but powerful arbiter of peace.
Thank you to you, my colleagues, for listening and for sharing your stories over the coming weeks on the importance and value of sport and activity as they shape our Canadian experience and bring us together. Let’s go, Canada!
Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to the vital role that physical activity and sport play in enhancing our well-being, strengthening our communities and shaping the fabric of the Canadian experience.
I want to thank Senators M. Deacon, McBean and Petitclerc for bringing forward this inquiry. I can think of no better three individuals, whose achievements in sport and lifelong commitment to healthy living are exemplary, to initiate this national discussion.
Colleagues, while I remain humbled and deeply privileged to serve in the Senate of Canada, it’s no secret that, as a young teen, I sometimes felt I was destined for a different red chamber. Back then, I dreamt and imagined myself at the Montreal Forum, skating alongside Guy Carbonneau, Larry Robinson, Bob Gainey and Chris Nilan. Life, however, had other plans.
Needless to say, the legacy of the Montreal Canadiens shaped my childhood. How fortunate I was to grow up in Montreal during the Habs dynasty of the 1970s. Imagine — by the time I left Concordia University in my early twenties, the Stanley Cup had paraded 10 times through the streets of Montreal. It has paraded 12 times through the streets of Montreal during my lifetime and 24 times in franchise history.
For many of us, sport was never just entertainment. It was a shared ritual, a sense of belonging and a language spoken across neighbourhoods and generations.
The Habs’ impact on our collective consciousness cannot be measured. There’s a good reason that the Canadiens are referred to as a true religion in Quebec. They have fostered a sense of belonging, pride, and discipline, values that extend far beyond the ice. Whether on the radio, on television, or in the stands, we watched our idols with admiration. We wanted to imitate them. This desire to participate, to move, to be part of the action drove an entire generation toward organized sports and neighbourhood ice rinks.
Professional athletes may not always realize the depth of their influence. Legends like Guy Lafleur, Yvan Cournoyer, Ken Dryden and Serge Savard inspired countless young people, including kids in my neighbourhood, to lace up their skates, grab a stick and spend hours outdoors. Those moments were about more than competition; they were about friendship, teamwork and healthy habits that stayed with us for life — one of sport’s greatest gifts.
Physical activity improves cardiovascular health, builds strength and coordination and supports lifelong mobility. Just as important, it strengthens mental health, reducing stress, improving mood and fostering resilience. I can certainly attest to the mental benefits of spending a couple of hours at the gym.
Programs like Play On!, a national initiative for which I’ve been a strong advocate, illustrate how sport can be a powerful engine for social cohesion. It increases youth engagement, supports mental and physical wellness and stimulates local economies.
More importantly, it creates shared experiences that bridge backgrounds and bring communities together around common goals. I encourage you to learn more about Play On! and support bringing the largest street hockey festival in the world to your community.
Of course, no reflection on sport in Canada would be complete without mentioning our love affair with the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The games symbolize excellence, friendship and respect, values that transcend borders. At a time when the world often feels divided, they remind us that we can come together in celebration of human achievement. The games inspire us to be “Faster, Higher, Stronger — Together.”
Each Olympic and Paralympic cycle rekindles dreams in young Canadians. Hearing athletes speak about their responsibility as role models is deeply moving. Over the decades, they’ve inspired countless young Canadians to pick up a pair of skis or skates or grab a hockey stick or curling broom. I’ve never picked up a curling broom, but it’s never too late.
Of course, this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Montreal Olympic Games, a coming-of-age moment for my city and our country. Those games showcased Canada’s ambition while planting seeds that would grow into generations of athletic achievement.
I turned 14 the year Montreal welcomed the world. It seems like yesterday, but boy, time flies when you’re having fun. I vividly remember the silver medal performance in the high jump of Canada’s very own Greg Joy.
And what can we say about Nadia Comăneci’s historic perfect-10 performance? Her grace, artistry and athletic prowess inspired millions. Even I was inspired, though I quickly realized gymnastics was not my destiny. I couldn’t do the splits or flips or land on my feet.
Instead, years later, I became a politician, where sticking the landing is optional, the balancing act is constant, flexibility is mostly verbal and the real balance beam is public opinion. You always hope for a good score at the end; I hope you’ll give me one after this speech.
All joking aside, the Montreal games left a lasting legacy. They showed us how sport can inspire pride, raise aspirations and bring communities together in celebration. Although I never wore the Canadiens jersey or competed in the Olympics, my passion for sport turned into a commitment. Like many parents in this chamber, my journey began by supporting my children’s teams. What started as family time turned into a lasting commitment to community sport.
Anyone who has stood on the sidelines of youth sports knows it’s a full workout in itself — pacing, cheering, carrying equipment and occasionally pretending you understand the referee’s decisions. It turns out community sport builds cardio for parents too. One of the proudest chapters of my life was serving as president of the Montreal Concordia elite soccer club, the AAA team in Montreal. We’ve put players on national and professional teams. Some are living through the sport today. Our teams achieved national success, but our true victories were always collective. Championships were earned not only by athletes, but by parents, coaches, volunteers and an entire community that stood behind them. I remain deeply grateful to all those who contributed to making the club what it was. Thank you.
Montreal’s love for soccer is well known. I was honoured to help establish the city’s first AAA girls’ soccer program. As a proud “girl dad,” I believed — and still believe — that sport is a powerful vehicle for opportunity, confidence and equality. When girls are given equal access to play, entire communities benefit. But the proudest moments were never about the trophies. They are the moments I experience today when I see the citizens and great Canadians these young players have become. Many still reach out from time to time, and we relive those unforgettable moments. Sometimes, I get very emotional thinking about those moments.
We treated them like professionals, travelled across the country through our many provincial championships and made sure they always felt valued through sport.
We also made it a mission to reach young people who needed opportunity the most. We scouted in local parks, and when we found talented players who could not afford the fees, we brought them into the program. We helped many stay off the streets, giving them structure, purpose and a sense of belonging — belonging to the Montreal Concordia Elite Soccer Club and making them proud. Through sport, we showed them the discipline, teamwork and hard work required to succeed in life.
Some players even came from other cities just to be part of our program, and that spoke volumes about the environment we were building.
Those final years at Concordia helped shape who many of them are today: confident, disciplined, resilient and community‑minded individuals. In the end, that is what has always mattered — not medals or banners, but people. That is the true legacy of sport, and I remain deeply grateful to have been part of this journey.
That is the real legacy of amateur youth sport, and I remain deeply grateful to have been part of that journey.
My involvement then extended to supporting Canada’s role in hosting the FIFA World Cup in North America, which we will see this year, a reminder that sport can connect cities, nations and cultures around the world on the global stage.
We cannot talk about sport without recognizing the ecosystem that sustains it. Parents provide encouragement and sacrifices; coaches offer mentorship and discipline. Fans — classmates, neighbours, extended family — create belonging. Together, they transform practices into life lessons, games into shared memories and challenges into opportunities for growth. Sport becomes a community classroom where teamwork, resilience and respect are learned through experience.
We see similar stories among our Olympians and Paralympians. Their achievements are rooted in networks of support that mirror the communities cheering them on. Whether wearing the Maple Leaf internationally or representing a neighbourhood team or the colours of their high school, athletes at all levels carry the hopes and pride of those around them.
So, to the youth of our nation, I say this: Discover a sport, move your body, embrace the outdoors, get off your phones.
Honourable senators, sport is far more than competition or recreation. It is a public good that strengthens our bodies, supports our mental well-being and binds our communities together. It teaches discipline, resilience and respect. It gives young people purpose — purpose is all we need in life; everyone needs purpose — it gives families connection, and neighbourhoods a shared sense of pride. In arenas, fields, parks and community centres across this country, Canadians are not simply playing games. They are building relationships, confidence and healthier futures.
If we truly believe in strong communities and a healthy nation, then promoting access to sport and physical activity must remain a collective priority. The benefits ripple far beyond the scoreboard. They shape citizens, reinforce social cohesion and reflect the very best of who we are as Canadians.
Let us continue to champion sport, not only for medals or victories but for its power to unite us, to uplift us and to remind us that when Canadians move together, we move forward together.
Thank you, meegwetch. Go, Team Canada, go!
Senator Smith, we have Committee of the Whole at 6:30.
I will not speak for very long, Your Honour, probably five minutes.
I’m sorry, could you say that again?
It will take about five minutes, Your Honour. Would that be okay with you?
That’s fine. You have the floor.
I have taken too many hits in my life, and it is getting difficult for me to remember certain things.
Honourable senators, I rise to speak on the inquiry brought forward by Senators Deacon, Petitclerc and McBean, which calls the Senate’s attention to the importance of physical activity and sport, its impact on our well-being and, in general, how it improves our collective society.
I would like to share my perspective on the influence sports have had in my life. I would also like to share my personal experience on how sports and physical activity bring communities together and empower individuals at all levels.
In 1975, during my fourth year in the Canadian Football League, or CFL, as well as my second year at McGill law school, I found myself inside the bitterly cold McMahon Stadium in Calgary, at -32 °F, at the centre of the 63rd Grey Cup against the mighty Edmonton Eskimos.
The game came down to a 19-yard field goal in the final moments of the fourth quarter. Our kicker, Don Sweet, known as Mr. Automatic, lined up for what should have been a routine kick. Guess what? He missed the field goal. We were defeated 9 to 8. That was tough.
I did not have time to reflect on this heartbreaking loss. Within hours, I was on the next flight back to Montreal to study for my law school exams. Do you think I studied that week during the Grey Cup?
That moment for me was a forceful reminder that you must accept defeat. You must learn from it, and you must carry on with determination.
Two years later, we beat Edmonton 41 to 6 at “The Big O” in front of 58,000 people. It shows you how life goes around.
This was a lesson that only sport could teach. For me, however, this lesson did not begin on a frigid night in Calgary. It began much earlier.
It all started on the icy streets of Baie-D’Urfé, a small town outside Montreal. I was nine years old and playing hockey with my older brother Ron and his friends. They were three years older than me, bigger, faster, and I always struggled to keep up with them. Competing against players stronger than me taught me discipline, focus and mental strength. My brother was a role model for me, and his example pushed me to excel.
Looking up to athletes, whether it was my older brother Ron or football players I would watch playing at Molson Stadium in Montreal, fuelled my passion for sport and motivated me to work hard and stay disciplined throughout my professional career and to leave a legacy that young people could look up to.
These lessons stayed with me long after my playing days ended. As president of the Montreal Alouettes, I made it my mission to travel to small towns across Quebec with our star athletes. Seeing young children meet the players they admired on television or at the stadium reminded me of how I was first inspired by sport. Those moments proved to me that the real impact of professional sport goes well beyond the stadium or arena.
Later, as commissioner of the CFL, I carried that same commitment across the country, visiting cities, towns and Indigenous communities, using football as a way to connect with people and encourage young Canadians to dream big.
During my time with the Canada Games Council, I witnessed the same. Canada Games bring together thousands of young athletes from all provinces and territories. It provides them with many opportunities that go far beyond sport, including building confidence, learning about leadership and developing as people. Canada Games also leave a lasting impact on the communities that host them.
For me, despite all this, one thing has remained true: Sport is never a one-person affair. It takes families who make sacrifices, coaches who mentor young people, volunteers who give their time and communities that believe in them.
As I look ahead, watching the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games unfold in Italy, I know young people across Canada will be watching their favourite athletes with enthusiasm and pride. Whether they win or lose, those athletes who carry the Canadian Maple Leaf have the opportunity to inspire the next generation. I know this personally because as a young child I was inspired by great athletes who came before me, and I aspired to be like them through sport.
Honourable senators, sport and physical activity teach discipline, hard work, respect, teamwork and inclusion. Sport binds communities together by their shared passions. By promoting sport and physical activities, we are promoting not only healthier societies but mentally stronger, more resilient ones.
I thank Senators Petitclerc, McBean and Deacon for their dedication to sport and for shining a light on this important topic.
Thank you.
