Our Story

The Childhood Obesity Foundation was founded in 2004 by a pediatrician and lawyer in British Columbia who wanted to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity in Canada. They gathered together Canadian experts in the field of childhood healthy weights, including physicians and researchers, and together they formed the Childhood Obesity Foundation (COF).

The COF Board of Directors then worked with the British Columbia Ministry of Health and the Provincial Health Services Authority to hold a Childhood Obesity Forum in March 2005. BC’s Premier opened the forum. The two-day forum included 110 individuals from all walks of life in including business, media, schools, health authorities, parks and recreation. Everyone came together to hear about the scope of the childhood unhealthy weights problem and come up with solutions.

In 2006 the Childhood Obesity Foundation was granted charitable status (CRA# 851423434RR000). The BC Ministry of Health kindly provided funding to get the COF’s work started. Since then the COF has been working on a variety of initiatives stemming from the 2005 forum.