Craig Kielburger

In 1995, when Craig Kielburger was 12 years old, he saw a headline in the Toronto Star newspaper that read "Battled child labour, boy, 12, murdered." The accompanying story was about a young Pakistani boy named Iqbal Masih, a child labourer turned child-rights activist who was killed for speaking out against the carpet industry.[7]

Craig’s parents, Fred and Theresa Kielburger, supported the early stages of the organization,[8] which was initially headquartered in the Kielburger family home.

One of the group's first actions was to collect 3,000 signatures on a petition to the prime minister of India, calling for the release of imprisoned child labour activist Kailash Satyarthi, who went on to win the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.[9] The petition was sent in a shoe box wrapped in brown paper. On his eventual release, Satyarthi said, "It was one of the most powerful actions taken on my behalf, and for me, definitely the most memorable".[8]

In December 1995, Kielburger travelled to Asia with Alam Rahman, a 25-year-old family friend from Bangladesh to see the condition of child labourers for himself. While there, he learnt that then-prime minister of Canada, Jean Chrétien was travelling to India. After initially being denied a meeting, Kielburger was granted 15 minutes with Chretien to advocate for Canadian action on the issue of child labour, making headlines across Canada and internationally.[10] Upon his return, Kielburger attracted international media attention with features on 60 Minutes and the Oprah Winfrey Show.[11][12] His South Asian trip was documented in the Judy Jackson documentary "It Takes a Child".[13] In 1999, Kielburger collaborated with novelist Kevin Major to write Free the Children, a book detailing his trip to South Asia, his meetings with child labourers, and the founding of Free The Children.[14]

Kielburger’s charity initially fundraised for organizations that raided factories and freed children from forced labour situations. When it became clear that the rescued children were being resold by their impoverished families, Free The Children changed its approach. The organization began to fund school building projects in Nicaragua, Kenya, Ecuador and India.[15] Eventually, it developed an international development model focused on education, water, health care, food security and income generation.[16]

In 2016, Free The Children rebranded as WE Charity,[17] The organization implements domestic programs for young people in Canada, the US and the UK, and international development programs in communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.[18] In July 2019, Kielburger opened an educational facility WE College in Narok County, Kenya with former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell, Margaret Trudeau and Kenyan First Lady Margaret Kenyatta attending the event.[19] In August 2019, Bill Morneau, the Canadian finance minister and Craig Kielburger announced that the federal government will be donating $3 million to the WE Social Entrepreneurs initiative.[20]

On 9 September 2020, Craig and his brother Marc announced that they were winding down We Charity’s operations in Canada and establishing an endowment that will sustain ongoing We Charity projects around the world.[21][22][23] The brothers attributed the decision to the financial condition of We Charity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the political controversy over the awarding of contracts from the Canadian government.[24] Craig said that the decision to close We Charity would preserve life-saving projects, including hospitals, boarding schools, colleges for women, and food security programs.[24]

In 2004, Craig and Marc Kielburger published Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World. The book included contributions from Oprah Winfrey, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Dr. Jane Goodall, and outlined the tenets of the “ME to WE” philosophy, including the importance of community and the idea of service as a path to happiness.[25]

In 2008, Kielburger co-founded ME to WE,[26] a social enterprise that offers socially conscious products, leadership training and travel experiences. ME to WE donates a minimum half of its profits to its partner organization WE Charity, to support its operating costs and international development work and invests the other half back into growing the enterprise.[27][28]

• Reebok Human Rights Award[37]
• World Economic Forum Global Leaders of Tomorrow Award, 1998[38]
• Nelson Mandela Human Rights Award, 2003[39]
• Action Canada Fellowship (2005-2006)[40]
• EY & Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2008)[41]

• Meritorious Service Medal, Civil Division, 1997[42]
• Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship, 1998[43]
• Member of the Order of Canada, 2007[34]
• Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, 2012[44]

Commonwealth honours

Country	Date	Appointment	Post-nominal letters
Canada	2007 – Present	Member of the Order of Canada	CM
Canada	1997 – Present	Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division)	MSM
Canada	1998 – Present	Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship	OMC
Canada	February 6, 2012 – Present	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (Canadian Version)

Honorary degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree	Gave Commencement Address
Ontario	June 9, 2005	Nipissing University	Doctor of Education (D.Ed) [45][46]
Ontario	June 2007	University of Guelph	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [47]
Ontario	Fall 2009	University of Windsor	Doctor of Humanities (DHL) [48]
Ontario	June 3, 2011	Trent University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [49][50]
Ontario	June 8, 2011	University of Toronto	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [51]
Ontario	June 14, 2011	University of Western Ontario	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [52]
Ontario	June 2011	Wilfrid Laurier University	Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) [53]
Ontario	2012	Carleton University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [54]
British Columbia	May 31, 2012	Kwantlen Polytechnic University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [55]
Quebec	June 2012	Concordia University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [56]
Ontario	Spring 2013	York University	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [57]	Yes
British Columbia	2014	Thompson Rivers University	Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) [58][59]
Ontario	2018	University of Ontario Institute of Technology	Doctor of Laws (LL.D) [60]