SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sheena Tremblay wants your vote.

The active communities coordinator for the NWT Recreation and Parks Association said the Walk to Tuk nordic walking program is facing fierce competition from initiatives from other parts of the country, and needs every vote it can get.

The Walk To Tuk program was featured on the Play Exchange television program, as one of six-finalist programs vying for $1 million. - photo courtesy of Sheena Tremblay

The five-year-old the Walk to Tuk program was recently spotlighted on national television as one of the Play Exchange's six finalist-programs vying for Canadian votes to get a a $1 million prize.

Walk to Tuk challenges teams to walk a distance equivalent to the journey along the Mackenzie river, from Fort Providence to Tuktoyaktuk.

"We're just going to have to wait and see and try to recruit as many votes as possible," she said.

She said the idea was to help people see their progress toward healthier lifestyle as it relates to some impressive local geography.

"The Mackenzie river is a significant river in the North, so we thought it would be a fun thing to do, and people could see their teams pass along the river," she said. "I think it's a great challenge and people can know where the river is, while trying to reach Tuk."

Tremblay said her association has been involved in starting walking programs for many years, in an effort to promote a healthy lifestyle among residents, and when the opportunity to compete in the national competition came about, they made their submission.

"The play exchange was a partner program ... they put out this call in summertime looking for initiatives in how to get Canada active. So we submitted Walk To Tuk, and it was selected as one of the top six," she said. "And now you can watch it online."

Bruce Dewar, CEO of Lift, a company which worked with the federal government in conceiving the Play Exchange, said the government wanted to find ways of getting Canadians thinking about health and physical activities using media beyond their grant programs.

"We had done a similar project with the B.C. government, with an online program that was very successful," he said. "Yeah, we did one called B.C. ideas, looking for solutions for stronger communities, so it was a much broader challenge."

He said the program featuring the Walk to Tuk aired on Friday and Saturday, and now Canadians are voting for a winner online.

"There's a firm ... doing the official tabulating of the results," he said.

"We wanted to raise awareness of health issues facing Canadians and I think the television show demonstrated that - that there's health issues facing Canadians, and that there's innovation in dealing with it."

He said the six finalists were representative of the more than 400 programs which made submissions from across the country. A shortlist was selected from the submissions and a panel of judges made the call on who would be featured on the show.

Tremblay said there's no running tally on the voting, so she has no idea how Walk To Tuk is faring against the other finalists.

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