iCANwalk Public Engagement Campaign

Green Communities Canada, with funds from the Government of Ontario's Community Go Green Fund, has launched the iCANwalk public engagement campaign across the province.

The official launch of Green Communities Canada's provincial iCANwalk campaign took place on September 10 in Ajax. See the media release for more details Adobe PDF (18 KB).

Mayor Steve Parrish of Ajax helping to officially launch the iCANwalk campaign (Click for larger image).	Ajax Newcomers to Canada Walking Together help launch the iCANwalk campaign (Click for larger image).

For more information on how Ajax is creating a more walkable community see our Ontarians Walking Now page.

The purpose of iCANwalk is to:

• Raise awareness about the importance of walkable communities,
• Increase the number of people choosing walking, biking and other forms of active transportation instead of driving, and
• Reduce green house gas emissions by 70 tonnes by March 31, 2011.

The iCANwalk website, available in English and French, is a valuable source of information to help people create more walkable and bikable communities. The site has a number of resources that you can use to start a local campaign. In particular, the iCANwalk Pledge and the Walkability Checklist are key resources that you can use in combination with your environmental projects, community sustainability planning, physical activity strategies, community engagement initiatives, and other active transportation projects and events.

iCANwalk Pledge: View Pledge

• Interactive on-line tool designed to calculate total km pledged, litres of gas saved, dollars saved and the total green house gas (GHG) emissions saved all as a result of “pledged” actions over a one month period.
• Collects pledge data by public health unit region,
• Evidence suggests that a pledge can be an effective tool in bringing about long-term behaviour change.

Walkability Checklist: View Resources

• Assesses four main components of walkability from the perspective of the walker,
• Available as a downloadable file that can be printed and taken with you on your walk, and as an on-line database to collect walkability data for your public health unit region,

Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit launched a five month iCANwalk campaign June 1, 2011 to encourage residents to ‘make that short trip on foot’!

*Note: Public health professionals can make a request to Green Communities Canada to access pledge and checklist data for their region.

For more information about iCANwalk contact Kate Hall, Project Coordinator at khall@greencommunitiescanada.org.