November 2, 2001

SHEILA COPPS ANNOUNCES GOVERNMENT OF CANADA SUPPORT FOR
WOMEN AND SPORT & PHYSICAL ACTIVITY INITIATIVES

HAMILTON, - Minister of Canadian Heritage, Sheila Copps, together with Sue Hylland, Executive Director of the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS), today announced that the Government of Canada will provide $200,000 for two important Canadian women and sport and physical activity initiatives.

The Government of Canada will provide $150,000 for the development of a Canadian Strategy for Girls & Women through Physical Activity and Sport. The other $50,000 will support a National Conference on Women, Sport and Physical Activity, to be held in Hamilton in November 2002. Both of these initiatives will be the Canadian legacies of the upcoming World Conference on Women in Sport, taking place in Montreal from May 16 to 19, 2002.

"Both, the Canadian Strategy for Girls & Women through Physical Activity and the Hamilton conference will be important legacies of the upcoming World Conference on Women and Sport in Montreal, said Minister Copps. These initiatives will demonstrate Canada's ngoing leadership in the area
of women and sport, at home and abroad."

"It was important to us that we see a legacy from the World Conference in Montreal next May," outlined Sue Hylland. "We want to continue the momentum from the World conference here in Canada and mobilize our sport, physical activity and health leaders to take action. We look forward to doing that at the national conference on Women and Sport and Physical Activity to be held next November in Hamilton."

The World Conference on Women and Sport in Montreal will bring together approximately 500 international delegates from around the world interested in sport and in the general advancement of the status of women. They will come together to discuss issues relating to women in sport, to report on progress since the Second World Conference in Namibia in 1998, and to chart future plans. The conference will be led by the International Working
Group on Women and Sport and hosted by the Government of Canada.

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Information:
Joseph Kira
Director of Communications
Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage
(819) 997-7788