NIC HUME

Faith-based groups gathered across the country, including at Victoria's Centennial Square, on World Water Day, March 22, to assert "the fundamental right of all people to safe, clean water."

Anglicans joined faith communities across Canada in commemorating World Water Day March 22 with calls for the protection of water “as a sacred gift, not a commodity” and for world leaders to ensure that all people have access to safe, clean water.

There were 60 events held in rural and urban areas across the country – “water walks,” film screenings, concerts, workshops – all designed to raise awareness among Canadians about how, as Sue Moxley, suffragan bishop of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, put it, “we are on the threshold of a global water crisis.”

If current trends continue around the world, “two thirds of the people on the planet will not have access to clean water by the year 2025,” said Bishop Moxley, who spoke at an ecumenical event in Nova Scotia.

In Toronto, Kairos and the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace held a “water walk” from the Church of the Holy Trinity (Anglican) to City Hall.

A “ritual” for World Water Day was performed, which highlighted the struggles of developing countries, whose water supplies are increasingly being privatized and who lack access to potable water.