Marc Kielburger

Marc Kielburger, (born 1977) is a Canadian author, social entrepreneur, columnist, humanitarian and activist for children's rights. He is the co-founder, with his brother Craig, of the We Movement, which consists of We Charity, an international development and youth empowerment organization; Me to We, a for-profit company selling lifestyle products, leadership training and travel experience; and We Day, an annual youth empowerment event. In 2010, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada.
Early years and education.
Kielburger was born in 1977 to parents who were both schoolteachers, Fred and Theresa Kielburger.
He attended Brebeuf College School (Toronto), and Neuchâtel Junior College (Neuchâtel, Switzerland), which he graduated from in 1995. In 1990, at the age of 13, through a program for school credit organized by Fintan Kilbride, Kielburger volunteered in Jamaica at a hospice for teenage mothers and a home for elderly homeless people who suffered from leprosy. During the same year he launched a one-person campaign against the production and use of chemically based home cleaners and received the YTV Achievement Award. He also won two awards at Canada-Wide Science Fair, in 1990 and in 1992.
Kielburger was the youngest to received the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship for his efforts.
He graduated from Harvard University, completing a degree in International Relations. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship in 2000 and completed a law degree at Oxford University, with an emphasis on human rights law.
Activism and social entrepreneurship.
While Marc Kielburger was studying at Harvard, his younger brother Craig read a story in the newspaper about the murder of a former child labourer in Pakistan. The story inspired Craig to urge world leaders to oppose the practice of child labour. In 1995, Craig and Marc co-founded Free the Children (later renamed We Charity). Marc's work with Free the Children has included co-creating Me to We, a social enterprise organization that supports We Charity with half its profits, and We Day, an annual youth empowerment event held in large stadiums in cities across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Kielburger later co-founded Leaders Today, an organization that trains young people to develop skills and confidence to effect social change.
In 2008, the Kielburgers appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show where they launched a partnership with Oprah's Angel Network.
Kielburger's work has been recognized through an Ashoka fellowship. He was also named Most Admired CEO in Canada in the Public Sector 2015.
Kielburger is a member of the board of directors of Prince's Trust Canada and Freshii. Kielburger also contributes a column to The Globe and Mail.
On 9 September 2020, We Charity announced that it was winding down its operations in Canada and selling its assets to establish an endowment that will help sustain ongoing We Charity projects around the world. The announcement also explains that the existing board of directors, the existing Canadian employees, and the Kielburgers would leave We Charity Canada. The decision to wind down its Canadian operations were attributed the financial condition of the organization caused by the WE Charity scandal and COVID-19.
Controversy and criticism.
In June 2020, the Canadian government announced it had chosen We Charity to run its new Canada Student Service Grant program. The selection of We Charity led to accusations of favouritism, since the government would be outsourcing a massive federal aid program to a private organisation with ties to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family. In July 2020, Marc Kielburger and fellow We Charity co-founder Craig Kielburger announced they were pulling out the grant contract due to the controversy it created.
On 30 June 2020, the Canadian Press published video of Marc Kielburger telling youth leaders earlier in the month that Trudeau's office had contacted We Charity to see if the organization would administer the student aid program. The Prime Minister’s Office said that Kielburger’s statement was not true. Marc Kielburger later said he "misspoke" and “incorrectly referred to the Prime Minister’s Office.” Kielbuger said the outreach came instead from officials at Employment and Social Development Canada.
In June 2020, Amanda Maitland, a former We Charity employee, said a speech she had written for a We Charity event about her experiences as a black woman was edited without her approval by a group of mostly white staff members. Maitland said when she tried to speak up at a staff meeting about problems within the organization, Marc Kielburger "aggressively" shut her down. In July 2020, Marc and Craig Kielburger apologized "unreservedly" to Maitland on their personal Instagram accounts. The Kielburgers said the editing of Maitland's speech "simply should not have happened." They said that they stand “firmly for inclusion, diversity and the equitable, open treatment of all."
Personal life.
Kielburger is married to Roxanne Joyal. She is a Rhodes Scholar and a fellow Member of the Order of Canada. They have two daughters.