'I'm gonna do it without training': Student runs across Canada for clean water rights

(Originally aired May 2018)

Ever felt like something was just meant to be? Hasan Syed certainly has.  

It all started at a 2015 dinner to celebrate the end of Ramadan. At the time, Syed, who immigrated to Toronto with his family from Pakistan when he was ten-years-old, was finishing a degree in nursing. After years of living in a two-bedroom apartment with his family, things were looking good. Syed was getting ready to graduate, find a job and save up to get a bigger place.   

And then a woman told him about the water advisory crisis facing many Indigenous communities across Canada.

At first, Syed was incredulous. But his incredibility quickly turned to shock once he understood the scope of the crisis.

"At that point, it was like a mind blast," says Syed.

Syed says he connected with the issue because he thought unsafe drinking water was something he'd left behind in Pakistan, where his parents went through a lengthy process of boiling, freezing and thawing water to make it safe to drink.

When he learned many Indigenous communities faced the same issue, Syed says he thought, 'okay well I left that to come here, and then you're telling me, it's happening here too, and with people of its own country."  

Syed says his Muslim faith played an important role, too.

"I felt like God was telling me, 'hey you know, I've given you all of this. I've shown you what it's like to not have something and now you have it. And now I'm telling you about this really important crisis, what are you gonna do about it?"

Sensing Syed's desire to do something drastic, a friend suggested he run from Vancouver to Ottawa to raise awareness. The idea resonated with Syed, who'd always been inspired by Terry Fox.

But it wasn't drastic enough.

"I put another condition," says Syed. "I was like, 'okay if I'm gonna run across, I'm not gonna train for it. I'm gonna do it without training."  

Syed's journey started on a rainy day in April 2017 in Vancouver. Along the way, he visited many communities and built some important connections.

One of those connections was with Sara George, who's from the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation in Ontario. George helped organize an event to honour Syed. She also traveled to Parliament Hill to see him finish his run.

George says people often don't understand the issue of clean water affects everybody, not just Indigenous peoples.

"So to have that support from Hasan and to do this for Indigenous people across the country, I can't put that into words," says George.  

Syed says the run might be over but the work is just getting started. Along with his team at the organization A2CW (Access 2 Clean Water), he's planning another campaign to raise awareness about the crisis.

He's also realizing what an Imam meant when he told Syed — on the first day of his journey — his campaign for clean water is a lifelong commitment.

"It took me awhile to figure that out and I feel like I'm still learning my role and how it's going to change and adapt over time," says Syed. "But I guess I feel like what he was saying, the whole 'you're in this for life' kind of thing. I guess I'm an advocate now for this. I'm happy out of all the things that I wanted to speak up for, this was the issue that I decided to speak up for."