(Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Healthy communities

La Ronge named Saskatchewan’s most active community

Jul 26, 2022 | 12:10 PM

Connor Tessier said he is very proud of what they were able to accomplish.

The community services manager for La Ronge is reacting to news of the town being named Saskatchewan’s most active community in the ParticipACTION Community Better Challenge.

“We were happy to see everyone come together on different levels, whether it was the amount of people coming to an event, the volunteers who stepped up to do regularly scheduled programming or even the local businesses and organizations that supported it,” he said.

The Community Better Challenge is a national physical activity initiative during the month of June that encourages Canadians to get active in search of Canada’s Most Active Community.

The Town of La Ronge, the Village of Air Ronge and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band took part in the challenge and offered events and activities on 28 out of 30 days in June, with 20 diverse program opportunities. This totaled more than 333 hours of programming to promote healthy lifestyles in the North.

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The activities included a variety of different sports such as beach volleyball or indoor basketball at the Jonas Roberts Memorial Community Centre. Tessier explained they also utilized their outdoor space in the form of swimming at the lake, trail walking and running clubs.

“There’s something for everyone here in La Ronge and we really wanted to highlight that during the month of June,” he said. “Not one program is gonna meet everyone’s needs and so that diverse set of over 20 programs I think really led to the success here.”

The community will receive a $15,000 prize to support local physical activity initiatives and sport. Tessier said the money will be used towards more programming throughout the year, adding he hopes their achievement can inspire other northern communities.

“It’s so important to keep everyone active whether its through a monthly initiative like this with ParticipACTION or just through the entire year. We are really pleased with the outcome here and we are looking forward to participating again next year,” Tessier said.

In a statement, Minister of Parks, Culture and Sport Laura Ross offered her congratulations to the community of La Ronge.

“Everyone wins when our communities are more physically active. ParticipACTION’s Community Better Challenge is a wonderful way to inspire and encourage families, seniors, adults and youth to become more physically active and we are very proud of everyone’s efforts,” she said.

Prizes of $15,000 were awarded to the most active community in each province and territory. The top prize of $100,000 and title of being Canada’s most active went to Red Deer, Alta.

The Community Better Challenge is open to everyone, and all minutes tracked on the ParticipACTION app and website in June counted toward a community’s total score. After tabulating the results, 50 finalist communities are asked to explain why they deserve to be Canada’s Most Active Community.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell