The Sandbox Project Timeline
June 2017
Sandbox150: Building Healthy Futures
On June 6th, The Sandbox Project built a 150-foot pop-up sandbox on Ottawa’s Sparks Street to raise awareness of Canadian issues in child and youth health. An Ontario150 Community Celebration, Sandbox150 was a collaborative event that brought together children, Parliamentarians, kids’ health organizations, corporate Canada and media, embracing the culture of inclusion, innovation and opportunity that could improve health and wellbeing outcomes for generations to come.
May 2017
Youth Health Rights in Canada: Discussion Paper
The YCRH engaged the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics (JCB) to establish a research base that will inform subsequent phases of the Health Rights and Responsibilities Project.
April 2017
2017 Sandbox Summit
The Sandbox Project and the Young Canadians Roundtable on Health travelled to Ottawa with AstraZeneca’s Young Health Program to host a One Young World breakout session on the youth role in preventing non-communicable diseases. Learn more.
June 2016
5th annual World’s Largest Sandbox
March 2016
EduTOX Video Challenge
The EduTOX Video Challenge invited young people to make short videos that outline the links between hazardous substances and health. Visit the EduTOX Video Challenge website or learn more about the project.
January 2016
The 6th Annual Sandbox Project Conference
December 2015
MEASURING IMPACTS: YOUNG WORKER INJURY PREVENTION INTERVENTIONS IN CANADA
The goal of this project, funded by the ESDC Labour Program, was to develop a continuum to measure and assess workplace interventions for youth occupational injury prevention.
Led by Parachute, this collaborative project also included the CIHR Team for Child and Youth Injury Prevention, the Sunnybrook P.A.R.T.Y. Program and MySafeWork.
Learn more about the research and access the final report here.
July 2015
2015 Pan Am Parapan Am GIANT Sandbox
On July 8, together with our partners, The Sandbox Project built a giant sandbox at Earlscourt Park in Toronto as part of the Pan Am Torch Stop festivities. We are delighted to announce that the Pan Am Parapan Am GIANT Sandbox event was a great success. The sandbox was filled with families as well as children from local daycares, day camps, and the community.
June 2015
January 2015
The 5th Annual Sandbox Project Conference
December 2014
FINANCIAL POST: ON THE CASE
“The experts tell us that awareness is the first step towards behaviour change,” said Christine Hampson, CEO and president. “As a sector, we need to speak more consistently and create the right conditions for this change. Creating awareness is a key way that we can support organizations that are running child an youty programs on the ground.”
November 2014
Prenatal Environmental Health Education (PEHE) Forum
The PEHE Forum built partnerships among 80-90 prenatal health practitioners, researchers, educators, policy makers and environmental health experts from across Canada and the U.S. to develop strategies for improving prenatal environmental health education. To our knowledge, it was the first-ever Canadian forum of this kind. Learn about the forum and access the final report here.
October 2014
#WORKRIGHTCA
Led entirely by the Young Canadians Roundtable on Health, #WorkRightCA features useful young worker resources from across the country to provide young workers, employers and parents with more tools to help create healthy and safe work environments for young people in Canada.
For this report, a subgroup of the Young Canadians Roundtable on Health reviewed and evaluated Canadian organizations and programs in the adolescent health space, with a particular focus on organizations that address non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention. Download the report.
June 2014
3rd annual world’s largest sandbox
March 2014
SANDBOX YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE (SYMHI) PHASE II: Background & CALL FOR LETTERS OF INTEREST
Phase II of SYMHI focused on the evaluation of an electronic Personal Health Record for youth being assessed and treated for common mental disorders (depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD) in primary care.
January 2014
The 4th Annual Sandbox Project Conference
November 2013
Concussion Awareness Advocacy
The Sandbox Project Injury Prevention Working Group decided to focus on two priority projects – Concussion Awareness and Helmet Legislation Harmonization. To view the Concussion Awareness Advocacy policy brief, please click here. This document outlines the Concussion Awareness Advocacy across different jurisdictions and seeks to recruit potential partners to join the steering committee for this initiative.
Young Canadians Roundtable on Health statement to National Infant Child and Youth Mental Health Consortium on the Joint Statement on Physical Punishment of Children and Youth
To read the statement, please click here.
October 2013
YCRH Environmental Scan for Healthy Eating Programs
The Young Canadians Roundtable on Health compiled a preliminary environmental scan
of healthy eating programs across Canada and the United States.
September 2013
SANDBOX YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE (SYMHI) LAUNCH
Phase I (then called Youth Mental Health Engagement Network or Y-MHEN) was a study undertaken at the Lawson Health Research Institute. This project delivered and evaluated the usability and acceptability of assessment tools and electronic personal health records accessible on mobile devices in the mental health treatment of youth experiencing depressive symptoms.
August 2013
LETTER TO TORONTO PUBLIC HEALTH FROM THE GROWING HEALTHY BODIES WORKING GROUP
The Sandbox Project Growing Healthy Bodies Working Group commends Toronto Public Health on not sending ‘Fat Letters’ and warns of negative repercussions of weighing kids. Read the letter from working group Co-Chair Dr. Leora Pinhas, Sandbox President & CEO Christine Hampson and the Growing Healthy Bodies working group.
The healthy body scorecard
This Mitacs-funded project began the development of a new health screening tool for children that is inclusive, easy to use and comprehensive, thereby addressing some of the noted limitations to the use of Body Mass Index (BMI).
Poster: An Examination of the Implementation and Effectiveness of a Digital Health Tool in Conjunction with and International Sporting Event
Download the poster by Michelle McClure (Ability Online), Scott Watson (The Sandbox Project), Nora Bertram-Romero (The City of Windsor)
As an in-kind sponsor of the Games, The Sandbox Project is brought its signature “World’s Largest Sandbox” event to The International Children’s Games on August 16th, 2013. Read more about the project here.
This article by André Picard featured the 2nd Annual World’s Largest Sandbox event on Ottawa’s Sparks Street:
“With the desk-banging, heckling and mock outrage that passes for debate in Question Period, the ham-fisted attempts to steal from the cookie jar that is the public treasury and the almost laughable denials of the obvious, the antics of Parliamentarians can, at times, seem childish.
So it is nice to see that someone has thought it fit to set up a big sandbox near Parliament Hill – complete with pails and shovels – and invite MPs and Senators alike to come play.”
GROWING HEALTHY BODIES WORKING GROUP RESPONDS TO ONTARIO’S HEALTHY KIDS STRATEGY
Through a panel discussion and a letter addressed to The Honourable Deb Matthews, MPP, the Growing Healthy Bodies Working Group has responded with comments and recommendations for the implementation of Ontario’s No Time to Wait: The Healthy Kids Strategy.
To read the Healthy Kids Panel discussion document, please click here.
To read the letter to The Honourable Deb Matthews, MPP, please click here.
February 2013
The Sandbox Project Environment Working Group calls for support for the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Study
The Sandbox Project Environment Working Group called on the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Health to support the continuation of the CHILD Study, a key tool for understanding the impact of the environment on children’s health, and the epidemic of asthma, allergy and many other chronic diseases of later childhood and adulthood in Canada. Read the letter.
January 2013
Young Canadians Roundtable on Health launch
The Young Canadians Roundtable on Health (YCRH) was created in response to the interest generated by the report Reaching for the Top: A Report by the Advisor on Healthy Children & Youth. A youth-led advisory, the YCRH works to create meaningful change on wide-ranging issues related to the health and well-being of young people.
November 2012
CHILDREN’S ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH WORKSHOP
The Sandbox Project Environment Working Group held a CIHR-supported workshop in Kitchener, Ontario to obtain input from representatives from 41 of Canada’s leading children’s environment and health experts working in the areas of research, advocacy and policy, in order to identify and prioritize needs for improving children’s environmental health in the next 5 years. Learn more.
June 2012
1st annual World’s Largest Sandbox
The Sandbox Project white paper was named for its inaugural 2011 conference where more than 300 concerned stakeholders met to exchange ideas and best practices for achieving immediate and sustainable improvement in the health of Canada’s children and youth. The white paper outlines the scope of the organization and directs stakeholder efforts in its first year of operation. Learn more.
January 2012
Strengthening Communities for Canadian Children with Disabilities
Dr. Anne Snowdon’s HRSDC-funded study engaged key stakeholders to examine the capacity for creating community environments that strengthen social development for children and youth who face significant challenges due to disability. To download Snowdon’s full report, please click here.
To read Anne-Marie Tobin’s January 19, 2012 article on the report on Huffington Post Canada, please click here.
January 2011
The 1st Annual Sandbox Project Conference
January 2009
The Sandbox Project Launch
The Sandbox Project was founded by Dr. Kellie Leitch to respond to the startling research findings of her report, Reaching for the Top: A Report by the Advisor on Healthy Children and Youth, conducted on behalf of the Government of Canada in 2007/2008.