Welcome to Update
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund
Email Update – January 2015
Mission Statement
As an instrument of faith, PWRDF connects Anglicans in Canada to communities
around the world in dynamic partnerships to advance development, respond to
emergencies, assist refugees and act for positive change.
This list is an outgoing communication service from PWRDF only.
PWRDF Expresses Concern for Syrian Refugees
Canada ‘Not Doing Enough’ for Syrian Refugees
Hiltz: Church Must Offer Hope
Ontario Professionals Volunteer Time, Money to Help Remote Ontario First
Nation
Right to Water Project Helps Youth Make a Difference
Remembering Haiti – Five Years Later
PWRDF News:
Reflections – Lent 2015
Stay Updated!!
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PWRDF Expresses Concern for Syrian Refugees
By Simon Chambers
Photo: Mike Kollöffel/ACT
PWRDF has written to the Canadian government out of a growing concern over the plight of
Syrian refugees. The conflict in Syria, which began in 2011, continues, and has forced over 15
million people to flee their homes.
The Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (Anglican Church of Canada) supports a
network of dioceses across Canada who hold Sponsorship Agreements with the Government of
Canada to sponsor refugees to begin new lives in Canada, offering them protection from
violence, persecution….read more: http://pwrdf.org/2014/pwrdf-expresses-concern-forsyrian-refugees/
Canada ‘Not Doing Enough’ for Syrian Refugees
By Leigh Anne Williams
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Boys run in the Zatari refugee camp in Jordan. There are more than 620,000 Syrian refugees in
Jordan. Lebanon and Turkey are each sheltering more than a million. Photo: ACT Alliance
The more than 3.3 million people who have fled the violence in Syria represent overwhelming
human need, but the response from Canada has been underwhelming, according to groups
working to bring refugees into the country. In July 2013, Jason Kenney, then the minister of
Citizenship and Immigration (CIC), announced a program that made Syrian refugees a ministerial
priority and aimed….read more: http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/canada-not-doingenough-for-syrian-refugees#sthash.FQASKlbw.dpuf
Hiltz: Church Must Offer Hope
By Art Babych
Archbishop Fred Hiltz extols the example of Jean Vanier, Canadian Catholic theologian and
founder of the international L'Arche communities for the developmentally challenged. Photo: Art
Babych
In his annual New Year’s Day sermon at Christ Church Cathedral in Ottawa, Archbishop Fred
Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, singled out Jean Vanier as an example of a life
and labours aimed at Christ’s mission of “love, reconciliation and peace in the world. ”It was 50
years ago in the tiny ….read more: http://www.anglicanjournal.com/articles/-hilt-in-the-midstof-world-conflict-church-mustofferhope?utm_source=Anglican+Journal&utm_campaign=5458d9eec2Anglican_Journal_Daily06_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3a3db95463-5458d9eec2243859085#sthash.TS5gM49A.dpuf
Ontario Professionals Volunteer Time, Money to Help Remote Ontario First Nation
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Photo: Jennifer
Hough
Dave Steeves, left, Bob White and Irving Leblanc, members of the Pikangikum Working Group,
pose outside a home in the remote northern Ontario community of Pikangikum, where running
water was installed thanks to their efforts.
Pikangikum Working Group assisting impoverished settlement that is mostly without running
water, sanitation and devastated by substance abuse and suicide.
By: Jennifer Hough Special to the Star, Published on Thu Jan 01 2015
PIKANGIKUM FIRST NATION, ONT.
In the heart of Toronto’s financial district, the domain of lawyers, stockbrokers and investment
bankers, Bob White is chairing a conference call. The participants aren’t dialing in from New
York or Hong Kong, but Pikangikum, a remote, fly-in First Nation community, 400 kilometres
northwest of Thunder Bay. “It’s minus-14 here today,” Pikangikum’s school principal, Melanie
Doyle, tells the room, her voice emanating from the ceiling in godlike fashion. “Some of kids are
coming to school with just a hoody. We need coats, gloves, hats — just the basics.” Read more:
http://www.thestar.com/life/2015/01/01/ontario_professionals_volunteer_time_money_to_he
lp_remote_ontario_first_nation.html
Right to Water Project Helps Youth Make a Difference
By Matt Gardner
Anglican and Lutheran youth across Canada have the opportunity to bring water to homes in a
remote, northern fly-in community as part of the ongoing National Youth Project (NYP).
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joint effort between the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Canada that works through the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund (PWRDF) and its
youth program, justgeneration.ca, the NYP seeks to help youth channel their energy toward a
particular issue over a multi-year period.
For their current theme, Right to Water—which
serves as the focus….read more: http://www.anglican.ca/news/right-to-water-project-helpsyouth-make-a-difference/3003917/
Remembering Haiti – Five Years Later
ACT Alliance is a coalition of more than 140 churches and affiliated organisations working together in
over 140
countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalized
people.
This short video takes us back to the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti in 2010, killing
over 200,000 people and displacing 1.5 million. ACT members were on the ground providing
emergency assistance and continue to work with communities in Haiti today towards
sustainable development.
http://www.actalliance.org/stories/remembering-haiti-fiver-years-later
Reflections- Lent 2015
PWRDF’s Lent 2015 Reflections - written by the Rev. Elizabeth Steeves.
We invite you to join us in these Lenten Reflections that encourage
thought and action on issues of Food Security.
To order print copies, contact: Christine Hills, chills@pwrdf.org
Lent 2015 is also available for download: http://pwrdf.org/resources/annual-resources/
Stay Updated!!
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