The Sport for Life Summit brings together leaders who strive to enhance quality sport and physical activity throughout Canada. By establishing an environment for knowledge sharing and idea generation through thoughtful and open dialogue, the Summit fosters connection, advances best practices and identifies opportunities for innovation. We aspire to ensure quality sport and physical activity programming, and the development of physical literacy, are equitably available to everyone.
When everyone has the opportunity to take part in quality sport and physical activity, the benefits to our population and society are immense. People live healthier, more active lives. Those pursuing high performance have a clear pathway and greater possibility for sporting achievement. Communities–from the physical communities in which we live to the collective national sport community–grow stronger and more aligned.
Theme: Everyone Belongs
At its core, quality sport and physical activity is accessible, fun, and safe. In today’s landscape, the positive benefits of quality programs and environments have taken on renewed significance – they must be universally welcoming and inclusive of everyone. This means programming must be participant-centred, and all participants should have the opportunity to build social connections, experience developmentally appropriate and progressive challenge, and enhance their mental wellness while improving their physical literacy. That is how we, as sport and physical activity leaders, can foster feelings of true belonging.
Let’s join together and share ways to cultivate a sport and physical activity ecosystem that is aligned and interconnected, and where individuals feel secure, included and integral throughout every stage of their pathway.
Communities and Dates
Three communities will be delivering their Summits on various dates from January to the end of March 2024:
Overview
The 2024 Sport for Life Summit is a regional event featuring live, local content relevant to the sport and physical activity landscape in each respective area.
Planned activities will vary from one community to another, but the Summits will feature a variety of in-person presentations and/or workshops on quality sport, physical activity, and physical literacy topics that relate to the event’s overarching theme “Everyone Belongs.”
Value of the Multi-Community Approach
Having completed a multi-community Summit in 2022 and 2023, Sport for Life saw tremendous value in this event approach for local communities, including:
- connecting local sectors, organizations and individuals;
- making the event more accessible and enabling programs to focus on local, community-specific issues to positively impact health and wellness, and strengthening existing community partnerships.
Tailoring initiatives to local interests ensures sport and physical activity’s positive impact resonates with each community’s identity. That’s why each 2024 Sport for Life Summit host community’s program may look a little different—to cater to the region’s needs and topics of interest at that time and foster the best possible collaborative and thought-provoking opportunities for attendees.
Why Attend the Summit?
The Sport for Life Summit is where thought leaders, researchers, administrators, practitioners, programmers and sport system stakeholders unite to improve quality sport and physical activity in Canada.
At the Summit, you can expect to:
- Network & Collaborate: Forge connections, brainstorm ideas, and discover opportunities in an environment designed for open and thoughtful dialogue.
- Align Sectors: Join the movement to align the sport, recreation, health, and education sectors. Together, we’ll address and remove barriers and identify a successful path forward.
- Shape the Future: Get ready to ignite your creativity! Discover fresh ideas and inventive strategies to empower you–and your clubs, organizations and communities–to make a lasting impact. Hear from and collaborate with the industry’s leading figures, gaining insights to shape the future of quality sport and physical activity
If you have any questions at all about the event, please email Emily Rand: emily@sportforlife.ca.
If you want to look back on previous Summits, access information from 2022 here and 2023 here.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. 
