1. Body Break

2. See also

3. References

4. External links

ParticipACTION emerged from Sport Participation Canada, a non-profit private company formed on July 12, 1971 in response to a 1969 study commissioned by the National Advisory Council for Fitness and Amateur Sport that found that the future of Canadian health was at risk from poor physical fitness and apathy on the part of Canadians.^[3] Council Chair Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien recommended that the Government of Canada provide seed money for an independent agency with public and private funding that would work to promote physical fitness.^[3] Marketing consultant Keith McKerracher was appointed to lead the new organization.^[3] Former Prime Minister of Canada Lester B. Pearson chaired the board from 1971 to 1972, while Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien served as president.^[3] In 1972, the company was nationalized by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to battle exorbitant health care costs. The resulting government program was renamed ParticipACTION.

ParticipACTION is well known for its television public service announcements (PSAs) and segments such as Body Break during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. A 1973 commercial, comparing the health of a 30-year-old Canadian to a 60-year-old Swede, started a national discussion on the state of physical education in Canada. The spot had its origin in juxtaposed pages of a book by Dr. Roy Shephard,^[3] then the Director of the Graduate Programme in Exercise Science the University of Toronto^[4]. On one page, a table of international fitness comparisons showed Swedes at the top of the ranking and Canadians significantly lower in the list; on the other side, an illustration showed that a sixty-year-old active man could be as fit as a sedentary thirty-year-old.^[3] When Russ Kisby (an early hire of McKerracher) showed McKerracher the book, the separate ideas were fused into the famous PSA.^[3] The ensuing outcry of alarm and embarrassment triggered a debate in the Parliament of Canada.^[3]

ParticipACTION was led by President and CEO Kelly Murumets from 2007 until 2014,^[5] when Elio Antunes was named to lead the organization.^[6]

Body Break

Body Break is a series of 90-second television programs dedicated to informing television audiences of ways to "keep fit and have fun". Funded in part by ParticipACTION for only 2 years, the programs are hosted by Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod and air regularly on Canadian television. The programs are designed to briefly introduce tips for healthy living to a television audience.

Both Hal and Joanne are accomplished athletes with backgrounds in sports medicine and nutrition. Johnson, a native of Toronto, Ontario, was an all-star baseball player while he attended the University of Colorado on athletic scholarship, and was among his team leaders in the Big 8 conference in home runs, RBIs, and batting average. He finished his business degree. Formerly an expert golfer, he now plays golf at a recreational level. Joanne was a 4-time Canadian hurdle champion who competed in the Commonwealth Games.^[7]

In 1992, a Body Break fitness video was released through Quality Music & Video. It was a smash, selling about 30,000 copies.

The two hosts of Body Break married in 1999, having kept their relationship secret from the public for several years.^[8]

The couple participated in the first Amazing Race Canada, being eliminated in the fifth leg.

The couple returned to their BodyBreak roles in 2017 to promote the Netflix original show Santa Clarita Diet in a faux infomercial.^[9]

See also

References

External links

• ParticipACTION
• Healthy Canadians - federal government portal, accessed 19 February 2007
• [https://www.usask.ca/archives/participaction/ The ParticipACTION archive project]
• CBC Digital Archives – Getting Physical: Canada's Fitness Movement
• Legendary fitness program is back in the game

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