Marc Kielburger (born 1977) is a Canadian author, social entrepreneur, columnist, humanitarian and activist for children's rights. He is the co-founder, along with his brother Craig, of the We Movement, which consists of the 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 schoolteachers Fred and Theresa Kielburger. At age 13, he became involved in environmental activism, founding clubs, starting petitions and eventually becoming the youngest person ever to receive the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship. He traveled to Jamaica on a school program, where he volunteered at a hospice for teenage mothers and at a leper colony. In 1990, Kielburger won the award for Best Junior Project at the Canada-Wide Science Fair, going on to win another CWSF award in 1992.
Kielburger attended Brebeuf College School Toronto and Neuchâtel Junior College in Switzerland, graduating from both in 1995. In the same year, he was named a Jostens Loran Scholar and enrolled in Ottawa University before transferring to Harvard University, where he received a degree in International Relations.In 2000, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and attended University College, Oxford, where he received a law degree 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 to the financial condition of the organization caused by the WE Charity scandal and COVID-19.
Canada Student Service Grant program
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 organization 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 of the grant contract due to the controversy it created.
On 30 June 2020, the Canadian Press published a 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. Kielburger later said that he had mistakenly referred to the Prime Minister's Office. The Prime Minister's Office also denied direct contact with WE Charity. Kielburger said the outreach came instead from officials at Employment and Social Development Canada.
