To honour the inaugural Healthy Schools Day in Canada, the Children's Health & Environment Partnership of Manitoba met with an inspiring group of teachers and administrators at elementary school - Ecole Robert H. Smith. Healthy Schools Day is about working together to make our schools healthy places and this school could not have been a better example of that.

While the national campaign for Healthy Schools Day focuses on Indoor Air Quality as its main determinant of a "healthy school", Ecole Robert H. Smith has taken a broader approach.

In 2002, after being married, my husband and I moved into our first home together. We were excited at the possibilities to build our life there together. Though we didn't have children, we did have nieces and nephews who regularly visited and we wanted to protect them and encourage a healthy lifestyle. So, six years ago, we began our quest to rid our home of harmful chemicals - in cleaning products, household items and the food that we put into our and their bodies.

It started with a gradual increase in local and organic food and a decrease in packaged food. This felt good - mentally and physically!

We are a small family – there is my partner, our eleven-year-old daughter Elizabeth and myself. Back in 2001 we decided to go vehicle free. At that time we were driving a small four cylinder car. It needed a lot of repairs and was very rusty. As our mechanic used to say to his customers, it was decision time.

In our extended household, changes to include safe consumer products – including household products, cosmetics and even a mattress, became a necessity because of health reasons. It’s amazing how innovative we can be under these circumstances.

In 1997, the front yard of Richer School, a small rural school about 80 km east of Winnipeg, was a bare and depressing place. Dull and institutional, it was the first sight that greeted students each day. Since then, that space has been filled with trees, shrubs, planters, vines, flowers, and a “pumpkin patch.”