RECOMMENDATION 1

The federal government:

·        Establish targets to achieve healthy weights for children through physical activity and healthy food choices including:

o       A halt to the rise in childhood obesity by 2010,

o       A reduction in the rate of childhood obesity from 8% to at least 6% by 2020;

·        Implement, in collaboration with First Nations and Inuit, immediate measures to halt obesity among First Nations and Inuit children; and,

·        Report annually to Parliament on overall efforts to attain healthy weights for children and on the results achieved.

RECOMMENDATION 2

The federal government:

·        Establish a comprehensive public awareness campaign on healthy weights for children;

·        Promote both quality physical activity and healthy food choices as key elements of the campaign;

·        Employ all available media in all regions of the country;

·        Develop and disseminate clear, easy to use, multi-lingual, culturally diverse educational tools for parents, children, teachers, health professionals, community planners, etc.; and,

·        Collaborate with provincial and territorial partners, national Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders as appropriate.

RECOMMENDATION 3

The federal government:

·        Implement a mandatory, standardized, simple, front of package labelling requirement on pre-packaged foods for easy identification of nutritional value;

·        Apply a phased-in approach starting with foods advertised primarily to children; and,

·        Promote the new labelling requirement to parents through an aggressive media campaign.

RECOMMENDATION 4

The federal government:

·        Establish regulations by 2008 that limit trans fat content in food as recommended by the Trans Fat Task Force, while not increasing saturated fat content.

RECOMMENDATION 5

The federal government:

·        Collect data on a regular and continuous basis on healthy weights for children;

·        Make data available on both physical activity levels and food choices;

·        Provide data from a variety of biometric measurements, including body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and abdominal circumference;

·        Include data on diverse ethno-cultural and socio-economic groups, specifically including Inuit; and,

·        Collaborate with provincial and territorial partners, national Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders as appropriate.

RECOMMENDATION 6

The federal government:

·        Create a mechanism for knowledge exchange on healthy weights for children that:

o       Includes a focus on both physical activity and food choices;

o       Disseminates ongoing and published research, results of evaluations, best practices, promising practices, unsuccessful practices, etc.,

o       Collects and makes information available in diverse languages, reflective of multiple ethno-cultural demographic communities, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis; and,

·        Collaborate with provincial and territorial partners, national Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders as appropriate.

RECOMMENDATION 7

The federal government:

·        Build research capacity across the broad range of health determinants related to healthy weights for children;

·        Ensure a research focus on both quality physical activity and healthy food choices;

·        Include, but do not limit research efforts to, federal departments and agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Statistics Canada, Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada; and,

·        Develop individual research components on the determinants of health for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children.

RECOMMENDATION 8

The federal government:

·        Identify immediately a lead department or agency for federal interdepartmental action on healthy weights for children;

·        Include but do not limit action to the following departments: Health Canada, Public Health Agency of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Finance Canada, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Sport Canada, Heritage Canada, Infrastructure Canada, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and Statistics Canada;

·        Ensure that action encompasses a healthy eating and a physical activity focus; and,

·        Establish an ongoing mechanism for consultation with First Nations, Inuit and other national Aboriginal organizations.

RECOMMENDATION 9

The federal government:

·        Assess the effectiveness of self-regulation as well as the effectiveness of prohibition in the province of Quebec, in Sweden and in other jurisdictions;

·        Report on the outcomes of these reviews within one year;

·        Explore methods of regulating advertising to children on the Internet; and,

·        Collaborate with the media industry, consumer organizations, academics and other stakeholders as appropriate.

RECOMMENDATION 10

The federal government:

·        Evaluate, with First Nations and Inuit, methods to provide their remote communities with access to nutritious food at a reasonable cost, including the Food Mail Program, the use of traditional foods, and various self-sustaining initiatives.

RECOMMENDATION 11

The federal government

·        Establish immediately a reliable baseline with respect to the number of children who enrol in sports and physical activity;

·        Report on the uptake of the Children’s Tax Credit within two years; and,

·        Evaluate the effectiveness of the Children’s Fitness Tax Credit and report within five years.

RECOMMENDATION 12

The federal government:

·        Work to facilitate, in collaboration with the Joint Consortium for School Health, appropriate healthy food and physical activity standards and programs in schools;

·        Provide appropriate healthy food and physical activity standards and programs in First Nations schools within federal jurisdiction; and,

·        Collaborate with the provincial and territorial partners, national Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders as appropriate.

RECOMMENDATION 13

The federal government:

·        Provide new and dedicated infrastructure funding to facilitate access to varied options for children with respect to quality physical activity and healthy food choices; and,

·        Collaborate with the provincial and territorial partners, national Aboriginal organizations and other stakeholders as appropriate.