8. Related activities

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• 8.1 Sports
• 8.2 Culture tourism

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8.1 Sports

A discussion of sports is included in the framework document but the domain is distinct from, and will be measured separately from, culture. Generally, in Canada, sports have been associated with culture, due in part to the historic linking of many provincial ministries of culture with government bodies for sports. In addition, Canadians have linked sports activities with culture based on wide historical societal involvement in activities such as hockey, skiing, canoeing, skating, swimming, etc. Many Canadians would argue that hockey has an integral relationship to culture, with its activity, language, and visual design representing the country to ourselves and to others. This approach is not unique to Canada; with countries as diverse as Japan and Spain recognizing the important links between their own sport and culture.

While there are definite interests in measuring sport in the Canadian context, we do not propose including sport within culture. Instead, the framework recognizes sports as a related activity, rather than as a core or ancillary culture sub-domain. We recognize that some sports, like ice dance and its routines, are creative and artistic, and may be copyrightable, but we identify sports as a separate related domain because sports are generally not considered part of culture. This is in keeping with the 2004 version of the Canadian framework and the existing Quebec conceptual culture framework. This approach also mirrors that taken by UNESCO, which classifies Sport and Recreation¹ under their Related domains, as they have a 'cultural character', but their main components are not culture.

Model for a Sports framework

Sports domains
Organized sport: includes team or organized sports activities (amateur and professional), including the hosting of sporting events.
Informal sport: includes recreational sports and physical activities such as aerobics, bicycling, badminton, fishing, golf, hiking, jogging, riding, rowing, skating, skiing, swimming, tennis, etc).
Transversal domains
Education and training
Governance, funding and professional support
Infrastructure domains
Mediating products
Physical infrastructure

For the purposes of this discussion, sport is an individual or group activity, often pursued for fitness in leisure time, which involves the testing of physical capabilities. However, sports can also be undertaken for the purposes of fun or competition.

Many different methods exist to classify sport. Sport Canada distinguishes between professional sports, those sports where participants may be paid or receive prize money for their appearance or performance, and amateur sports. The Australian Bureau of Statistics conceptualised sports and physical recreation activities for a participation survey as high, moderate, or low intensity taking up free time (amateurs) and contracted time (professionals) (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, p. 14).

There is need for further research to construct a similar framework for sports statistics. Such a framework could include consideration of the presentation, promotion, and organization of organized sports, recreational sports, and spectator sports, such as professional sports and amateur events staged in Canada. This would ensure that the economic and social impacts of sports and signature events such as the Canada Games, the Olympics, the Pan-American and Commonwealth Games would be recognized.

8.2 Culture tourism

The Canadian framework does not explicitly include fields of activity, such as tourism, that are already measured in other frameworks (Statistics Canada 2007a). Tourism is a consumer activity that is linked intimately with the culture sector, in that culture provides many of the culture activities enjoyed by tourists. Tourism is already part of a well-established internationally accepted methodology that measures the economic impact of tourism through tourism satellite accounts. Those accounts are able to provide data about the role of culture in tourism.

Culture activities of tourists in Canada are already captured in the culture domains defined by this framework. For example, a tourist visiting a heritage institution or attending a concert is counted in the Heritage and Libraries or Live Performance domains respectively. Tourism statistics, as a distinct measurement tool, measures the demand of domestic or international visitors for goods and services. Their expenditures on culture goods, as well as their expenditures on accommodation, travel, food services, etc, and the number of visitors and purpose of visits are captured in tourism statistics. These data, in conjunction with data on the overall use of culture products from the point of view of culture supply, may be sufficient to provide data for analysis of culture. For this reason, this culture framework will not duplicate the work of tourism statistics.

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Note:

1. The CFCS suggestion for a parallel sports framework differs from UNESCO.  It refers only to sport, and excludes 'recreation', because recreation provides definitional and measurement problems that are not within the scope of this project. Recreation is a broad term that can include, depending upon the jurisdiction, all facilities and services related to a variety of amusement, hobby and leisure-time interests.