The cover of the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (SPRA) survey.

A newly-released survey finds Indigenous people face more barriers to an active life than others do.

Earlier this year, the Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association (SPRA) reached out to more than 800 people, who then filled out an online survey on their level of physical activity.

From that, it turns out 96 per cent of Indigenous respondents – one per cent more than the overall respondents – believe “physical activity benefits their mental health,” said Christian Bates-Hardy with the SPRA.

“We are very pleased to see that the public responded so positively, that they see the connection between physical activity and recreation and mental health, because we’ve been saying that for a long time but sometimes we’re not sure whether people are getting the message.”

But those positive numbers are sandwiched between a lot of disheartening numbers that show Indigenous people do not have the same recreation levels as the rest of the province.

For example, the report says 21 per cent of Indigenous “respondents agree that they have experienced discrimination or harassment in a recreation setting,” while 18 per cent would not say whether they had or had not.

Also, “Indigenous respondents are less likely to agree that they are comfortable sharing recreation spaces with people different than themselves (at 68% vs the provincial average of 77%).”

Northerners are five per cent less likely to report being active than people in the south, while 55 per cent of Indigenous people surveyed report being active compared to the overall average of 63 per cent.

At the same time, Bates-Hardy says 86 per cent of indigenous respondents are wanting to get active, which is promising.

Bates-Hardy says his association is working to even out the playing field for recreation, and remove inequities. For example, they have a dedicated northern field consultant based in La Ronge and actively work with the Northern district for Sport, Culture and Recreation.

For now, he has one simple piece of advice: “there’s no time like the present to start being more physically active and you don’t need a gym or facility in order to do it.”

The full survey data can be accessed here.