After hundreds of community members engaged in more than 21,000 “participACTIONs” in June, Hay River was just recrowned the N.W.T.’s’ “Most Active” community. The town successfully defended their championship title after winning multiple years including last year.
“This achievement belongs to our entire community. Thank you to everyone who participated in the many programs, events and activities facilitated by THR Recreation throughout June. Whether you joined a fitness class, hit the trails, attended a community event, swam, played a sport or simply got out and got active, you helped make this possible!” said community organizers in public message Wednesday, announcing the victory.
A few weeks ago, the community was selected as one of just 40 finalists, chosen from more than 375 across the country, who joined the 2026 ParticipACTION Community Challenge.
Courtney Fraser, who is the Recreation Programming Supervisor for the community explained that participants worked hard to earn the award, taking part in a wide variety of more than 1000 activities.
“Community members participated in events ranging from fitness classes to sports programming to family community events such as the Family Party in the Park, Cardboard Boat Races and Asphalt Art.”
In total, 1,711 activities, programs and events were organized, registered and documented for the challenge.
“Participating organizations tracked a total of 21,233 participants (not unique) in their programs, activities, and events,” confirmed a community impact report shared by Hay River.
In 2025, Hay River won the title of the most active community in N.W.T. along with $15,000 in prize funding support for local physical activity and sport initiatives.
Just two years ago, Hay River won the top prize in the national challenge, picking up $100,000 in prize funding. Last year they were painfully close to picking up the crown as defending champions, losing out to Richmond, B.C. This year, Quebec city was named as the new national champion.
Diana Dampier, director of Projects and Stakeholder Relations with ParticipACTION, emphasized that the long time initiative is dedicated to helping people exercise their mobility.
“ParticipACTION s a national charitable organisation that’s been around since 1971 and our mandate is to help people, move more, where they live, learn, work and play. It’s a national initiative to inspire communities across Canada to get active. It has a big focus on breaking down barriers to physical activity and its main purpose is to inspire communities to get more active.”
