The Centre’s Advocacy Role

The Alberta Centre for Active Living defines advocacy as “actions taken to influence public opinion and government or other policy related to
physical activity, with the ultimate aim that ‘all people value, enjoy and benefit from a physically active way of life’”(Alberta Centre for Active Living, Annual Report, 2008/2009).

The first goal of the Centre is to be a key advocate of physical activity in Alberta and Canada. The outcomes related to this goal describe how the Centre goes about its work in this area.

• The Centre takes a leadership role in addressing issues in the field (e.g., meeting with government ministers, responding to issues surfacing in the media or organizations, developing targeted messages).
• Advocacy ability is increased through partnering/collaborating with other organizations (e.g., the Centre participates in a large number of networks and is a member of many provincial and national coalitions and organizations).
• Centre advocacy influences policy related to physical activity (e.g., the Centre proactively approaches decision-makers and provides support and information for policy development).
• A key advocacy tool used by the Centre is the Pan Canadian Physical Activity Strategy developed by the Coalition for Active Living.

For more information on the Centre’s advocacy role or to enlist the Centre’s support in potential policy action, please contact the Director (active.living@ualberta.ca).