What being Canada’s ‘most active community’ means to Hay River

“I was surprised and kind-of freaked out. We’ve won a lot of things, but not a really big cheque like that.”

That’s how Harry Camsell School student Gwen Highfield felt when she heard her town had won the national Participaction community challenge this year.

Gwen and her sister, Quin, were among hundreds of residents who celebrated at Hay River’s community centre last weekend as town staff accepted the $100,000 prize, which will help revitalize a park and fund somerecreation programming.

“It’s surprising that we actually won, but I think it’s nice to gather with everyone that we don’t know,” Gwen told Cabin Radio minutes after the town announced its plans for the money.

The siblings share a love for a ton of sports like hockey, volleyball, swimming, soccer and badminton.

Along with their friends, the two designed posters that read “Coach Jordan is my hero” and “Coach Courtney is my hero,” recognizing recreation staff Jordan Froese and Courtney Fraser, who led the town’s Participaction entry in June.

Throughout the month, individuals, businesses and sports organizations recorded their hours spent doing a range of physical activities.

“I’m actually really happy because our town is pretty small,” elementary student Ember Sanguez said.

$100,000? “That’s a lot,” Sanguez added.

While Hay River was crowned the territorial winner for 2021 and 2023, this year it was chosen as the “most active community” nationwide – becoming the first northern national champion in the challenge’s history.

Resident Holly Tybring said that made the 2024 victory even more special.

Tybring, who moved to Hay River roughly 15 years ago from Nova Scotia with her family, has supported the town’s Participaction entry in recent years. In her time living in the NWT, she says she has noticed Hay River’s recreation programming improve drastically.

“There’s been some real developments in the past five years. The programming seems to be more accessible, they’re more advertised. There really seems to be more involvement in the community as well, which is really nice to see,” she said.

“When I first came here I was new so I didn’t really know a lot of people. Now that you have that sense of community, it’s wonderful. There’s going to be some really great changes for everyone.”

Froese said a lot of preparation went into getting people on board. Staff went door to door to get businesses involved, she said, and helped more than 40 children ride a “bike bus” across town every Monday and Wednesday.

Froese said Fraser, who was constantly monitoring the town’s place on the leaderboard next to 49 other finalists, “came sprinting over” when she got the email about Hay River’s win.

The victory had to be kept secret until Participaction made an official announcement.

“We did a silent dance and cheer then told our supervisor Stephane [Millette] and kind-of had a mini high-five session until it was announced,” Froese said.

She said the Ray Benoit outdoor ice rink, which is part of the Inukshuk Park revitalization project that the prize money will help fund, “is in desperate need of repair so that’s really exciting.”

New lighting, new park equipment and more accessible parking are on the way.

“It’s really going to become an area for the whole community that is a lot safer and more utilized,” Froese said.

The town will allocate the $20,000 set aside for recreation programming by carrying out an inventory to see which sports need equipment that isn’t already available in the town.

“Hay River is really great at supporting each other. If somebody has a new idea and is trying to bring it, people are pretty good about showing up and trying it,” said Froese.

“I’m really proud of Hay River and our department. Everybody shows up for each other and tries new things. It makes me really happy. It’s a good place to be.”

RCMP and Hay River’s fire department contributed to the win by organizing activities of their own in June, including a “water fight” for kids with the help of the fire trucks.

There were also challenges in which police officers had to wear the firefighters’ big tanks and masks, while ire crews had to wear RCMP armour.

Winning the national contest was “amazing to see,” said Cst Jacob Feeney, who is stationed in Hay River.

“This town is such a lovely place, full of amazing people that work together,” he said, calling Froese and Fraser “the heartbeat of the community.”

In June, Jordan’s son Brody Froese was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring no children lost their way while biking around the town.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for the town to have more activities for the kids,” said Brody, who tried curling for the first time with his brother Jasper at the weekend’s celebration.

“I think it’s pretty cool that we’re going to have a better outdoor rink, so even after practices we can play hockey.”

Some 20 of the 28 employees at Ring’s Pharmacy walked, biked and played golf to win a local corporate activity challenge, competing against 16 other businesses.

“The employees at the store really got on board and they were really excited about it. Almost everybody that worked at the store was active and involved,” said Lisa Boyce, who moved to the town from Ottawa more than two decades ago and now works at Ring’s Pharmacy.

“I just think it’s fantastic. As soon as I heard that we were doing this, I thought it was a great opportunity for everybody to get involved.

“We have a fairly active staff. After the summers that we have had – with the floods and fire evacuations – I just thought, you know what, this is something really good if our community can pull it off.”

Town manager Glenn Smith said the prize money will make a big difference to a community with a 10-year plan that is largely underfunded.

Besides being recognized as “the hub” for NWT transportation, Smith said Hay River is now also a “recreation hub.”

“Hay River has been beat up through some emergencies in the last few years and part of the healing is really getting people active and coming out,” he said.

“Recreation has that benefit of healing people. You fix infrastructure, you fix damage to the roads, parks and assets, but you also have to fix your people.

“It’s surprising but you know Hay River. When they come together, they do big things.”