Journal of Aging Research nonparticipation. These results suggest that while Canadian seniors have underlying chronic health conditions they do not always identify them as being associated with their self- reported general health, nor do they view them as limit- ing conditions to participation in physical activity. This potential disconnect between self-reported health status and chronic health conditions is interesting, as heart disease, vision, COPD, diabetes, and mobility trouble increased the likelihood of nonparticipation across males and females. It is possible that these older adults have learned to compensate for these chronic health conditions in their everyday life and therefore no longer consider them barriers to participation nor consider them impacting their self-reported general health status. It is clear, however, that there are limiting factors to participation. Although health concerns have been considered motivators to participation [23], this does not seem to be the case in the current study. These ﬁndings have implications for physical activity programming for seniors. While only a small number of older Canadians were identiﬁed who did not participate, this sample represented those who believed they did not have limitations to participation; eﬀectively creating a “healthy” sample of older adults. Regardless of their self-perceptions, this group of seniors was less likely to participate because of underlying health conditions. This would suggest that pro- gramming should target the speciﬁc needs of older adults; whether that takes the form of activities and classes designed speciﬁcally for those with targeted health conditions, or increased knowledge of how to integrate and attract those with health conditions into preexisting classes. What is clear is that the results identify a dissociation between self-percep- tions of health and the reasons older adults are at greater risk for nonparticipation. This study is not without limitations. The derived vari- able we chose from the CCHS-HA dataset captures physical activity as any one of walking for pleasure or exercise, light sports, moderate sports, strenuous sports, and exercises to increase muscle strength and endurance. While this variable is all encompassing for physical activity, it does not include activities of daily living, which may also be considered by some to contribute to their daily physical activity levels. Second, the self-reporting of general health status does not take into account the fact that many older adults learn to accommodate health concerns and to compensate for their impact on daily activities. Thus, a physical performance based measurement of health status could quite possibly have produced a diﬀerent pattern of ﬁndings. Third, the chronic health conditions selected were done so to represent an overall picture of health-related issues that may impact participation. Speciﬁcally, they were chosen to represent vision, respiratory function, cardiovascular health, neuro- logical health, diabetes, and mobility. It is by no means an exhaustive list of all chronic health conditions; any of which could impact ones’ ability to participate in physical activity. The chronic health conditions were not validated in any way through performance measures, suggesting that their presence may have been under- or overrepresented in the self-reporting. Fourth, in predicting nonparticipation, the overall sample of nonparticipants represented only 9.4% 7 of the total sample derived. Thus, the potential for type I error may be increased. Lastly, it was not possible to deter- mine whether participants were meeting the recommended guidelines for participation in physical activity. While the PASE scores conﬁrmed this group was more active than the nonparticipants, it was not possible to determine if this was due to frequency of participation or the duration of participation. Overall this paper raises the issue that despite having created a “healthy” sample of older Canadians, there are still those who do not participate in regular physical activity. The 9.4% of seniors in this sample who did not participate is substantially smaller than the national average of 62%. However, it is important to note that this sample has been derived from older adults who reported no health condition or limitation preventing them from participating and thus is not representative of the general population of older adults. As such, their nonparticipation is not related to the presence of barriers such as opportunity or desire, but to speciﬁc chronic health conditions, and suggests a potential disconnect between self-perceived health and actual health status. Considering that only one-third or less of older Can- adians achieve the recommended guidelines for leisure time physical activity [4], it is important to shift the focus from simply describing the barriers and motivators to physical activity to working towards designing programs that will address the health conditions facing older Canadians. With the changing age demographic, it will be important to encourage all older adults to participate in some form of physical activity on a daily basis, including a renewed focus on the role that activities of daily living can play in achieving ﬁtness goals. One positive note to take from our ﬁndings is that 90% of the healthy older adults identiﬁed do engage in some form of physical activity, suggesting that public health messaging is reaching its mark. Acknowledgment This research was funded by the Social Sciences and Human- ities Research Council of Canada, Grant no. 862-2010-0007 (P. L. Weir). 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