Leisure and Community Recreation

The following global ideas guide the design and delivery of this course.

Course content will be guided by current research, empirical knowledge, and best practice. The following values and principles, consistent with professional standards, inform course content.

• Understanding the foundations of leisure and recreation builds awareness of the benefits and constraints of leisure and recreation and provides context for emerging perspectives specifically the Recreation Framework in Canada, Leisure Education and leisure literacy.

• National, provincial, municipal, non-profit and commercial organizations and services provide leisure and recreation programs and places to gather in communities.

• Leisure and recreation participation significantly contributes to overall health and well-being of individuals throughout the life course. 

• In communities, the type of leisure and recreation activities people participate in are determined by age, gender, culture, local context and socioeconomic status. Understanding how experiences of leisure and recreation are gendered and shaped by other diversities (including LGBTQ2S, migrant status, economic status, age, and location) is essential to ensuring equitable access.

• Leisure and recreation have their roots in White, Western and middle-class perspectives and experiences. Ensuring equitable access to leisure and recreation requires a close examination of these roots and how different groups and cultures, specifically Indigenous communities, may view and experience leisure and recreation. 

• Understanding family and life course involvement in leisure, leisure and spirituality, play and sport as a leisure behaviour, deviant leisure and community experiences guide the leisure and recreation professional to meet the needs of all members of a community.