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Funding to Support Ski and Snowboard Safety for Children and Youth

News Release: The Government of Canada Supports Initiative to Reduce Injuries Among Children and Youth on Ski Hills

Unintentional Injuries among Children and Youth in Canada

While the Government of Canada encourages Canada's children and youth to become more active and lead healthy lifestyles, we also want to ensure their safety while being active. Through the Public Health Agency of Canada's Active and Safe initiative, the Government of Canada is investing $5 million over two years to support a number of community-based activities that empower Canadians to make safe choices while engaged in sport and recreation activities. Today's announcement for $200,000 will support a project to reduce injuries among children and youth on ski hills.

SNOWSMART

This project will be led by the SMARTRISK Foundation, in partnership with the Canadian Ski Patrol System and Canada Snowboard, to raise awareness among children, youth and their parents on how they can make better choices to ski and snowboard safely. The project will focus on the risk of excessive speed, the importance of skiing and snowboarding in control, and strategies to avoid collisions on ski hills.

Below are activities included in the project:

  • Research to better understand how to address the issues of speed, control and collisions in skiing.
  • The “Get Caught” initiative, which rewards children and youth for skiing/snowboarding in control and taking an active role to reduce their risk of injury.
  • Protecting children from collisions by distributing and promoting PACE Penguin Children's Ski Safety kits, which include:
    • information on helmets, equipment and other safety tips for parents;
    • bright bibs to be worn by children, aged two to eight years, so they can be easily identified as young skiers on the hill; and,
    • signage to encourage skiers and snowboarders to slow down around young skiers and give them extra space.
  • A website and social media strategy to provide youth with information and encourage discussion about safety on the hills, and to help parents understand the important role they play in influencing their children's risk-taking behaviour.

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