Marc KielburgerCMOMC (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[1] 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.[2]
Early years and education
Kielburger was born in 1977 to schoolteachers Fred and Theresa Kielburger.[3][4][5] 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.[6] He traveled to Jamaica on a school program, where he volunteered at a hospice for teenage mothers and at a leper colony.[5][7] 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.[8]
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.[16] The story inspired Craig to urge world leaders to oppose the practice of child labour.[16] In 1995, Craig and Marc co-founded Free the Children (later renamed We Charity).[17] 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.[18]
In 2008, the Kielburgers appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, where they launched a partnership with Oprah's Angel Network.[19]
Kielburger's work has been recognized through an Ashoka fellowship.[20] He was named Most Admired CEO in Canada in the Public Sector 2015.[1]
On September 9, 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.[23][24][25] The announcement also said that the existing board of directors, the existing Canadian employees, and the Kielburgers would leave WE Charity Canada.[26] The decision to wind down Canadian operations was attributed to the financial condition of the organization caused by the controversy surrounding the CSSG program and COVID-19.[27]
On January 15, 2024, Martin Luther King's 95th birthday, the National Football League announced a five-year commitment to Realizing the Dream, a partnership between the Martin Luther King III Foundation and a charity Kielberger co-founded called Legacy+, in which the NFL said that all of its teams would be participating. The initiative calls youth, teachers and communities across the United States and the world to perform 100 million hours of community service by Martin Luther King's 100th birthday in 2029.[28]
That night, King's oldest son and former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Martin Luther King III appeared at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium for the NFC Wild Card Game, where he and his family stood at midfield for the pregame coin toss. Before the coin toss, King III was interviewed about the project, with Tampa mayor Jane Castor and former mayor Pam Iorio in attendance, where he said, "Certainly (the elder King) wanted to eradicate what he defined were the triple evils: poverty, racism and violence. But he also believed in civility and being together, and we could disagree without being disagreeable. Unfortunately, our nation is at a divided point. That’s sort of why football games and championships are so important, because they bring people together, from every walk of life."[28]
Several weeks later, on February 5, the Cincinnati Reds announced that it, too, had joined the Realizing the Dream initiative, with Martin Luther King III appearing at the Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park for the occasion.[29]
Kielburger and his brother Craig wrote a book with Martin Luther King III and his wife Arndrea Waters King titled What Is My Legacy?: Realizing a New Dream of Connection, Love and Fulfillment. Contributors to the book include the Dalai Lama, Julia Roberts, Yara Shahidi, Jay Shetty, Al Sharpton and Sanjay Gupta. The book is scheduled for release on January 14, 2025, the day before what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.'s 96th birthday. Excerpts from the book were republished in People magazine.[30]
In June 2020, the Canadian government announced it had chosen WE Charity to run its new Canada Student Service Grant program.[31] 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.[31] 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.[31]
On June 30, 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.[32][33] Kielburger said the outreach came instead from officials at Employment and Social Development Canada.[32]
Personal life
Kielburger is married to Roxanne Joyal.[34] She is a Rhodes Scholar[35] and a fellow Member of the Order of Canada.[36][37] They have two daughters.[38]
Kielburger, Craig; Branson, Holly; Kielburger, Marc (2018). WEconomy: You Can Find Meaning, Make A Living, and Change the World. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN978-1-119-44781-8.
Further reading
Coleman, Linda S.; Funk, Robert W. (2005). "Take Action: Children's Rights Are Human Rights: Marc Kielburger and Craig Keilburger". Professional and Public Writing: A Rhetoric and Reader for Advanced Composition. Pearson Education. p. 158. ISBN9780131838857.
"Young People Changing the World: An Interview with Marc Kielburger". A Human Future. L'Arche Canada. 6 (March 2007). 2007.
Asabere-Ameyaw, Akwasi; Anamuah-Mensah, Jophus; Sefa Dei, George; Raheem, Kolawole, eds. (2014). "Me to We". Indigenist African Development and Related Issues: Towards a Transdisciplinary Perspective. Sense Publishers. p. 48. ISBN978-94-6209-657-8 – via Google Books.
Dutton, Jane E.; Spreitzer, Gretchen M. (2014). "Cultivate Hope". How to Be a Positive Leader: Small Actions, Big Impact. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc. p. 125. ISBN978-1-62656-028-4.
Scudamore, Brian (October 18, 2017). "WE Co-Founder Marc Kielburger On Mentors, Mandela, And Spurring Social Change At 17". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved January 21, 2019.
