This will be the fourth year that the Moose Jaw Newcomers Welcome Center has hosted their Healthy Living Project, aimed at providing newcomer women and girls the chance to get fit.

In a normal year, the program would see anywhere from 15 to 20 women gather weekly to participate in yoga, canoeing, hiking, or dance fitness. The Welcome Center partnered with numerous local fitness businesses to connect newcomers with the options available to them.

Then COVID hit.

Program manager with the Welcome Center, Melissa Mitchell, explains more.

"A lot of businesses were closed at the beginning of the pandemic and we couldn't gather," says Mitchell. "So we had to hold off on a lot of our activities.

Now that people are starting to settle in the rhythms of the pandemic, Mitchell says they hope to bring the program back.

"Some of the activities might be different than normal. We may have to do more virtual stuff but I'm hoping that the women will be encouraged to get active again in their own homes and yards."

With everyone spending so much time at home right now, Mitchell says that many newcomers don't have a lot of opportunities to get out into the community so it can be hard to seek out fitness classes on their own.

"In some of their home countries, they might not have had access to spin class or dance fitness, so some of these things might be a little unfamiliar to them. So for them to just go out and find them might be a little difficult on their own."

Mitchell says these programs are a real highlight for the clients.

"They love it. It creates friendships between women who would not have had any other interaction. It really empowers them and they're always asking when they get to do it again. We know that they've really missed it over the past few months so I think that they will be excited to get back into it even if there still are some restrictions."

For any newcomer women or girls interested in taking part, you can call the Welcome Centre office at 306-692-6892.