The Canadian Playground Safety Institute, in association with the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, is offering a four day course for participants who wish to complete playground inspector certification training. This training is designed for owner/operators, health inspectors, daycare staff, maintenance/public works staff for schools, municipalities, housing complexes and other areas that contain public playspaces, private inspectors and contractors, manufacturers, installers, parks staff, insurance agents, etc. This playground safety education program helps individuals thoroughly understand the Canadian playspace safety standard from CAN/CSA Z614 “Children’s Playspaces and Equipment” and teaches participants how to conduct a hands-on inspection/ audit of a playspace.
The Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) currently offers a Canadian Certified Playground Inspector certification through the Canadian Playground Safety Institute (CPSI) for individuals who complete the CPSI Theory and CPSI Practical Courses and achieve passing grades on both exams. The certification is valid for a three year period and can be renewed by completing a recertification exam either online or in the classroom. These courses are also open to participants outside of Alberta. Individuals who only want to take the Theory Course are welcome to attend. However, the Theory Course is a prerequisite for the Practical course, whether you complete it during this session, online or elsewhere at any time within the 12 months prior to the course. Inspectors with recently, or soon to be, expired certifications, may recertify by taking the Practical Course and rewriting the classroom recertification exam. If you are recertifying, please indicate your intent by marking the recertification box on the registration form.
If you have questions about these courses or certification, please contact CPSI by email at cpsi@cpra.ca, by phone toll-free at 1-877-536-2338 or visit the training and education/playground safety website pages at www.cpra.ca.
Course Information
- Theory- April 19-20, 2010
- Practical – April 21-22, 2010
- Renfrew Community Association, 828 – 8th Avenue NE, Calgary, Alberta
We would like to thank our host, Parks Calgary, for their assistance with this event.
CPSI
As of this month LIN (and the National Recreation Database) made a final and smooth transition to the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association for governance oversight and general operations. At its April 16th meeting, the ARPA Board of Directors ratified the final transition details that would effectively have a new LIN Board (comprised of ARPA selected representatives) undertake governance and operational responsibility for LIN.
A National Leadership Council will also be created to advise and support the continuing development and evolution of LIN as a national resource for the recreation and parks sector. LIN will continue to provide valued information, knowledge management, and related research services to clients, users, and patrons.
“This transition and reorganization of LIN will afford the opportunity for ARPA, with its upgraded technology infrastructure, to protect LIN as a significant national recreation and parks asset, but will also lead to more modern and effective knowledge transfer for practitioners and those in allied fields,” says Dr. Tim Burton, ARPA President. “ARPA is well-positioned to pursue active engagement with other levels of government and other allied agencies and sectors on the build-out potential for LIN.”
For more information on LIN, please visit www.lin.ca.
Elected Officials
As an elected official or municipal committee member, your involvement and support to the celebration of June as Recreation & Parks Month is vital! As an elected official, your role in ensuring that recreation and parks programs, services and opportunities that contribute to the health, wellness and overall quality of life in our communities remains a priority.
For the month of June renew your commitment to be a strong voice advocating the benefits that recreation and parks provide to our communities. ARPA and your recreation and parks staff can provide you with relevant facts, research and examples of how recreation and parks contributes to personal, social, environmental and economic well-being in our families, communities and province.
The following are some activities/strategies, which elected officials could become involved in, to help celebrate June as Recreation & Parks Month.
- Officially proclaim June as Recreation & Parks Month (We have included a useable charter example in this Tool Kit!)
- Formally recognize, in some way, the efforts of your municipal department staff and volunteers.
- Become a member of the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, and/or attend a provincial recreation conference or workshop.
- Encourage/support a municipal-wide ‘Recreation Fair’ that would provide local recreational, environmental, sports, arts and culture, agencies, groups and businesses an opportunity to share and promote their programs and services to the community.
- Nominate one of your staff or volunteers, local groups or initiatives for an award and recognition from the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association.
Practitioners
As practitioners, either paid or volunteer, the benefits that recreation and parks programs, facilities and services you provide in your community is often known, but not celebrated or promoted. June celebrations are perfect opportunity for your department or agency to ‘take the stage’ and communicate the messages regarding the value or recreation and parks in our communities. Whether it is through a media campaign, a new event or promotion or by using an existing annual event. June is the month to celebrate!
The following are some activities/strategies, which recreation and parks practitioners could be involved in, help celebrate June as Recreation & Parks Month.
- Have your Mayor/Reeve proclaim that June is Recreation & Parks Month! (Look for a useable Charter, in this Tool Kit)
- Plan a community-wide event to celebrate and showcase the value of recreation and parks in your community!
- Contact the local media and have a weekly article focusing on a particular event, facility, group, program, volunteer related to recreation and parks!
- Develop a community contest that promotes recreation and parks and the benefits they provide to your community!
- Ensure that all promotions of existing events, programs and services occurring in June promote ‘June is Recreation & Parks Month’!
- Plan a department-wide celebration for all department staff and volunteers to celebrate the contributions you make to the quality of life in our communities!
- Become a member of the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, and/or attend a provincial recreation conference or workshop.
- Plan/facilitate a municipal-wide ‘Recreation Fair’ that would provide local recreational, environmental, sports, arts and culture, agencies, groups and businesses an opportunity to share and promote their programs and services to the community.
- Contact your local school board(s) to support your Drawing/Colouring Contest or Photo Contest!
- Nominate one of your staff or volunteers, local groups or initiatives for an award and recognition from the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association.
Not-For-Profits (Community Service Clubs)
The not-for-profit sector plays a significant role in the delivery of recreation and parks programs and services and in some communities these groups are the ‘only game in town’. Therefore the role that they play in contributing to our communities and their quality of life should not be overlooked.
The following are some activities/strategies, that not-for-profit groups involved in recreation and parks related programs and services could become involved in, to help celebrate June as Recreation & Parks Month.
- Plan/Participate in a community-wide event to celebrate and showcase the value of recreation and parks in your community!
- Ensure that all promotions of existing events, program and services occurring in June promote ‘June is Recreation and Parks Month’!
- Plan an agency-wide celebration for all staff and volunteers to celebrate the contributions you make to the quality of life in our communities!
- Have local media cover your event, agency, programs or services!
- Become a member of the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, and/or attend a provincial recreation conference or workshop!
- Plan or participate in a municipal-wide ‘Recreation Fair’ that would provide local recreational, environmental, sports, arts and culture, agencies, groups and businesses an opportunity to share and promote their programs and services to the community!
Business/Corporate
The business community cannot be overlooked as advocates for recreation and parks. Many businesses are direct providers of recreation and parks related services and programs. Others provide the necessary equipment and supplies to participate in various activities or programs and still others are valued members of our community who believe and support individual and community health and well-being. Whatever the case, the business and corporate community is an important advocate of the delivery of recreation and parks.
The following are some activities and strategies that can be used to celebrate June as Recreation & Parks Month by businesses and corporations that believe in the value of recreation.
- Get involved in your community’s celebration activities or events, become a sponsor or partner in the event!
- Help promote community activities and events through your customers and media campaigns!
- Get other businesses/corporations on board! Enlist the support of other community businesses that may not be involved in the celebrations!
- Become a member of the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association, and/or attend a provincial recreation conference or workshop!
- Participate in a municipal-wide ‘Recreation Fair’ that would provide local recreational, environmental, sports, arts and culture, agencies, groups and businesses an opportunity to share and promote their programs and services to the community!
Check out Alberta Recreation and Parks Association web site for June is Recreation and Parks Month! www.june.arpaonline.ca!
Alberta Recreation and Parks Association invites all of its member to join in with them as they gear up to celebrate “June is Recreation and Parks Month” and the many ways recreation and parks enhance quality of life in Alberta.
June is an ideal time to get kids outdoors, and engage them in the natural world as it blooms and grows around them. It is particularly timely this year as awareness about the importance of connecting children with nature continues to grow.
Once again this year, they will invite you to sign the June is Recreation and Parks Month Charter to declare yourself a “Champion for Recreation and Parks Month” for your family, workplace, and community. Back by popular demand… all the Champions that sign the Charter will be entered into the 2nd Annual “Bobblehead” Awards!
Stay tuned to coming issues of REConnect for more information about June is Recreation and Parks Month activities, or visit www.june.arpaonline.ca.
Recognize provincial excellence in recreation and parks with an ARPA Award
Applications for this year’s ARPA Awards are now live at www.awards.arpaonline.ca. Nominations are being accepted in the following categories:
Wildrose Award
ARPA Merit Award
Parks Excellence Award
A.V. Pettigrew Award
AABRD Legacy Award
Excellence in Youth Development Award
Nominating/applying has never been easier! The new online submission forms have been developed to provide a quick, easy, and consistent process for nominating groups and individuals. There is a customized online form for each award with new features that allow you to upload reference letters and save your progress as you go.
ARPA’s awards are a celebration of the innovative and successful endeavours in the recreation and parks industry. These awards and scholarships advocate to the provincial government the need and priority of the recreation and parks services’ role in Alberta communities. Let’s not allow these contributors go unnoticed!
The deadline for completing the nomination/application form is May 31st, 2010. Please visit www.awards.arpaonline.ca for more information.
Provincial Recreation & Parks Month – Benefits Charter
WHEREAS we are fortunate to have a variety of recreation and parks systems providing countless recreational opportunities for residents and visitors from around the world; and
WHEREAS, recreation enhances quality of life, balanced living and lifelong learning; helps people live happier and longer; develops skills and positive self image in children and youth; develops creativity; and builds healthy bodies and positive lifestyles; and
WHEREAS, recreation participation builds family unity and social capital; strengthens volunteer and community development; enhances social interaction; creates community pride and vitality; and promotes sensitivity and understanding to cultural diversity; and
WHEREAS, recreation, therapeutic recreation and leisure education are essential to the rehabilitation of individuals who have become ill or disabled, or disadvantaged, or who have demonstrated antisocial behavior; and
WHEREAS, the benefits provided by recreation and parks programs and service reduce healthcare and social service costs; serve to boost the economy, economic renewal and sustainability; enhance property values; attract new business; increase tourism; and curb employee absenteeism; and
WHEREAS, connecting children with nature is critical to their health, development and wellbeing, builds future environmental stewards, and promotes the sustainability of our natural spaces and environment; and
WHEREAS, our parks, open space and trails ensure ecological beauty; provide space to enjoy nature; help maintain clean air and water; and preserve plant and animal wildlife; and
WHEREAS, all levels of government, the voluntary sector and private enterprise throughout the Province participate in the planning, development and operation of recreation and parks programs, services and facilities;
NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association does hereby proclaim that June, which witnesses the greening of Alberta and serves as a significant gateway to family activities, has been designated as Recreation and Parks Month which will annually recognize and celebrate the benefits derived year round from quality public and private recreation and parks resources at the local, regional and provincial levels and generally contributes to the “Alberta Advantage”.
Since Inseption:
Step ahead a decade, and imagine that future: Alberta in 2015 and beyond, the place to find quality of life.
Here is a province where health care, education, justice, culture, recreation – indeed, all human service fields – act in concert, consciously pursuing shared mandates and goals under a Quality of Life umbrella. Gaps and overlaps consume far less time and money as each agency focuses on what it is best equipped to do. That clarity of roles includes government and business as well as the voluntary sector, resulting in accountability that is appropriately placed rather than off-loaded. Citizens, communities and the environment are benefiting as never before.
In the environmental arena, we protect our natural capital by stewarding resources and pursuing smart growth. We capitalize on change at the rural-urban fringe, creating heritage centres and natural corridors that connect future generations with our roots, and with the land.
Individuals, meanwhile, are healthier than ever. By eating well and living actively, we have put the epidemic of obesity behind. In fact, nearly 100% of us engage in the physical and social activity needed to prevent poor physical and mental health. A new culture of wellness has sprung up. Leisure education, motivational campaigns and innovative programs reach people right where they live, learn and work – and hone in on what motivates them. Structural changes such as healthy living tax incentives, nutrition standards and evidence-based, leading edge policy reflect current research in public facilities and other active living programs. Thanks to stronger links between health and recreation, doctors whose patients suffer from inactivity related diseases proactively promote behaviour change.
Community wellness is also on the rise. New initiatives such as Alberta Active Communities are equipping both rural and urban centres to assess their walkability, physical activity levels, service excellence and other aspects of quality of life – and then plan and enact positive change. Inclusion is now the norm, superseding the bottom-line focus that had driven user fees up. As a result, all citizens in our increasingly diverse province have access to affordable services that enhance quality of life. Populations that could benefit most from increased participation are highly involved and active, thanks to targeted emphasis on children, comprehensive school health, after-school youth, teen outreach, active aging, community arts and sport, leisure education and lifestyles coaching. That culture of inclusion is fueled by Alberta-wide participation in such efforts as the national Everyone gets to play™ initiative.
Expanded initiatives reflect not only the synergy of coordinated effort but a significant reinvestment in recreation and parks by federal, provincial and municipal governments. Public recreation facilities, which were crumbling after years of inadequate attention, stand among the beneficiaries. Thanks to a bilateral infusion of funds, those existing and new community facilities have become multipurpose centres and community hubs that serve other quality of life fields as well as recreation and parks. All across Alberta, funds are also being used to expand and link the trails and corridors needed for both active living and wildlife movement. Staff are equipped and eager to incorporate environmental sustainability and lifecycle management at every decision point, ensuring that public assets will remain viable for years to come. Underlying these changes is a distinct shift toward recognizing the key role municipalities play in ensuring quality of life, coupled with understanding that quality of life contributes directly to community growth and sustainability.
This future Alberta benefits from a quality of life sector – and within that, a recreation and parks field – with vastly expanded capacity. That is no accident, but reflects concerted effort to attract excellent staff, develop visionary leadership and build quality assurance standards. Research and modeling in the field has leapt ahead, thanks to collaborative initiatives such as a university based Leisure and Cultural Policy Studies Centre. Findings are broadly shared through electronic and other means, ensuring that staff and citizens at the front lines benefit from the latest wisdom in the field.
Multiply those positive outcomes by the number of fields contributing to quality of life, and it’s clear that, working together, those involved can make a real and measurable difference. We can create an Alberta far more enticing than the one to which today’s trends are pointing. What better time than now. What better place than here, Canada’s best province.
A Nexus of Change
Citizens of Alberta are living through significant change – a post-industrial, creativity-hungry era when quality of life is key to success. Yet numerous signs alert us that Alberta’s quality of life may be endangered. A decade from now, will we have enough water? Will our best farmland be buried beneath concrete? Will obesity and inactivity be draining health care coffers? Will disparity explode into violence? Will latch-key youth have role models to counter drugs and gangs? Will public facilities and services be further crumbling into disrepair?
Living day to day, it’s easy to characterize those questions as the fears of an alarmist – easy to block out the massive change we’re living through and believe 2015 will look like today. But futurists such as Ruben Nelson40 warn that we’re at a hinge-point in history – a time when the hierarchies, silos and consumption of the past must give way to more fluid, networked, stewardly interactions with each other and with the environment that sustains us.
This nexus of change demands huge shifts:
- From extraction of commodities to value added processing.
- From consumption of seemingly infinite resources to stewardship of scarce resources.
- From a homogenous society that values conformity to diverse communities that respect nonconformity.
- From local communities of place to global communities of interest.
- From recreation as discretionary leisure to recreation as necessary for wellness.
- From disease focused healthcare to wellness focused holistic health.
- From discrete policy envelopes to integrated policy paradigms.
- From top-down governing to governance as shared accountability.
- From quality service for customers who can pay to quality of life for all citizens.
- From individualism and privatization to communitarianism and social engagement.
- From social capital involving small, tightly knit communities to creative capital involving diverse cosmopolitan communities.
This time of change opens tremendous opportunities for positive action. Particularly in resource-rich, post-debt Alberta, we have the capacity to make the necessary shifts, to shape our new environment. Against this backdrop of unprecedented wealth, a new expectation is emerging: a call for Alberta to show wise leadership in its use of its economic resources. To the extent that all Albertans recognize the imperative of change and commit to action, we can create a far more liveable future than our current course would produce. A future that not only provides higher quality of life, but costs far less in the long run.
The Emerging Quality of Life Sector
Recognizing that the crucial work of maintaining and improving quality of life will require concerted multi-disciplinary action, in 2001 ARPA invited leaders from diverse disciplines to form a Vision 2015 Steering Committee. The committee has since hosted several interdisciplinary planning initiatives, including a visioning symposium40, a leaders’ forum and workshops. Those venues enabled representatives from education, health and wellness, human and community services, the environment, heritage and culture, recreation and parks and other disciplines to begin outlining the urgent work ahead for the emerging Quality of Life Sector.
Four years of visioning and planning have culminated in Foundations for Action: Enhancing the Quality of Life in Alberta. This report provides both a policy framework and a draft action plan for the emerging Quality of Life Sector. Parts 1 and 2 of this report outline a framework and purpose for the sector as a whole; parts 3 through 5 map a path for the recreation and parks field based on the direction set for the broader sector. Other fields within the Quality of Life Sector are invited to use the first two parts of this report as a springboard for their own strategic planning using the template laid out in parts 3 through 5.
This work coincides with growing recognition of the need for visionary leadership that consciously involves citizens and integrates disciplines. Decisions regarding resource extraction and commodity consumption, for example, can no longer disregard resulting impacts on individual, community and environmental health. Decisions regarding economic development can no longer ignore the fact that today’s most precious commodity, human creativity, gravitates to community centres offering outstanding quality of life.
Numerous Alberta government initiatives, including its Today’s Opportunities, Tomorrow’s Promise: A Strategic Plan for the Government of Alberta16, the A Place to Grow – Alberta’s Rural Development Strategy13 and A Learning Alberta13, reflect an understanding that our province must move beyond segmented, top-down decision-making. As a result, the silos and envelopes that characterized the past are giving way to integrated paradigms that recognize the importance of such cross disciplinary public goods as human capital, wellness, environmental sustainability and quality of life. Yet it will take concerted effort to ensure that those far-sighted priorities remain at the forefront of policy making during this time of societal change.
The Quality of Life Sector is a most appropriate avenue for advancing those key priorities, offering potential far greater than the sum of its fields. Those involved are reluctant to solidify a definition of the sector, preferring instead to allow organic evolution as additional fields come aboard, but consensus is growing about the united framework and purpose depicted in Figure 2.2, Page 18. Participants share a sense of heightened anticipation about the sector’s draft vision, which envisions Alberta as
“a re-creating, sustainable society that lives and promotes a culture of wellness, creativity and stewardship for the enhanced quality of life of all Albertans, their communities and their environments.”
Although the vision remains fluid, the accompanying values, guiding principles and outcomes have received full support as cornerstones for the work ahead. It’s instructive to note that virtually all fields involved are anchored by these same six values:
- respect for diversity,
- full inclusion,
- involved citizenship,
- long-term sustainability,
- valued creativity, and
- community governance.
The guiding principles and the outcomes flowing from those values promise to enhance wellness for individuals, communities and the environment all throughout Alberta. Building on those cornerstones, what might this Quality of Life Sector accomplish? Among the many priorities suggested, the 2005 Leaders’ Forum identified the following as most urgent:
- A Livable Communities and Cities Framework that enables communities to measure their quality of life and identify prescriptions for improvement.
- A new measurement paradigm that tallies long-term costs and benefits more accurately than the GDP, thus shifting focus to what really will enhance quality of life.
- An Active Communities initiative that puts legs on Alberta’s Active Living Strategy by providing a mechanism for grassroots delivery and cross-community/agency synergy.
- A Premier’s Wellness Council that provides appropriately high-level planning and coordination for preventative health and wellness strategic initiatives.
- A Provincial Volunteer Sector Accord that buttresses this crucial and often overburdened aspect of citizen involvement by outlining aims, roles and relationships.
- A coordinated Alberta Land, Water and Air Strategy that protects our environment for current and future generations by making integrated decisions the norm.
- An Environmental Assets Inventory and Database that serves as a baseline for informed and holistic stewardship of key environmental resources.
- An Alberta Cultural Policy that finally recognizes cultural vitality as a fourth pillar in community sustainability alongside social, economic and environmental vitality.
- A Social Infrastructure Investment Program specifically targeted at renewing Alberta’s aging community recreation, parks, culture, heritage and library facilities and provides new facilities to meet the demands of Alberta’s growing population.
These priorities remain open to debate and refinement. Whatever their final form, consensus is growing that the time has come for the sector to move from planning to action.
The Vital Role of Recreation and Parks
Among the various fields contributing to the Quality of Life Sector, recreation and parks is centrally positioned to provide the leadership needed to build on momentum developed to date. In addition to supporting sector-wide planning, the field has put energy into analyzing its own heritage and charted a course for its unique yet complementary role in enhancing quality of life.
The fact that recreation and parks can make key contributions to quality of life is reflected in the field’s four fundamental purposes:
- positively influencing individual growth and wellness;
- enhancing social inclusion and community development;
- protecting and preserving natural environments; and
- enhancing economic vitality.
Recreation and parks is part of a growth industry. Already, one third of our time, land and consumer spending is devoted to leisure pursuits, making this our number one economic activity. In short, recreation and parks stands at a point in history when its potential to make a difference is huge.
In decades past, strong belief in the potential of leisure and recreation to enrich individual and community quality of life prompted significant public investment. As recently as the 1960s and 1970s, Alberta funded a broad array of infrastructure and programs. Since the early 1980s, however, fiscal conservatism, commercialization and privatization have forced recreation to narrow its focus, charge user fees and do less to involve the disenfranchised.
Yet the new Alberta demands that recreation and parks join in creating the “people climate” that Dr. Richard Florida76 and others champion as key to attracting and nourishing human capital. We need to recapture the concept of leisure as something everyone is entitled to and that everyone shares. In this postdebt era, Alberta has an opportunity to show leadership by taking a communitarian approach that recognizes leisure as a central common good. Then recreation and parks become a positive part of the catastrophic change that futurists such as Ruben Nelson challenge us to consider.
The strategic plan for recreation and parks as proposed in this document (and summarized in Figure 4.1, page 72) sets the stage for exactly that. To be refined through upcoming inter-agency consultation and engagement, these key results and strategies have the potential to significantly expand recreation and parks’ role in ensuring enhanced quality of life. In concert with the direction set for the sector as a whole, this plan promises a better future for all Albertans.
Alberta has the resources, the grassroots support, the organizational structure, and hopefully the political willingess to chart a better future. Promising signs indicate the province is poised to act, as are partners in the Quality of Life Sector. Recreation and parks is poised to provide leadership. All the pieces are there. We just need a blueprint. The Foundations for Action Report provides an initial conceptualization of that blueprint.
This report is not the end of the journey but an invitation to new behaviour, new attitudes and a new way to work. It’s a way to engage Albertans in conversation about where Alberta is going and how the recreation and parks field will be involved.
Four years ago, when the roots for this blueprint were planted, Nelson challenged us all to commit ourselves to the task of inventing and developing new, life-giving perceptions, relationships and structures – approaches that embody and reflect wisdom and responsibility. “That which you love, you have great expectations of. I urge you to become the world’s first truly global civilization: prosperous, inclusive, innovative and humane,” he said. “We haven’t begun to dream of what we can become.”
from Foundations for Action – Alberta Recreation and Parks Association