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Craig Kielburger

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Canadian children's rights advocate
Craig KielburgerCM MSM OMC
Craig Kielburger in 2010Craig Kielburger at We Day Waterloo 2011 with his brother, Marc Kielburger.
Born (1982-12-17) December 17, 1982 (age 42)
Thornhill, Ontario, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Alma materTrinity College, University of Toronto (B.A.)
Schulich School of Business, York University
Kellogg School of Management (EMBA)
OccupationSocial entrepreneur
Known forFounder of WE Charity and Me to We
SpouseLeysa Cerswell Kielburger
RelativesMarc Kielburger (brother)
Websitewww.craigkielburger.com/

Craig Kielburger CM MSM OMC (born December 17, 1982) is a Canadian human rights activist and social entrepreneur. He is the co-founder, with his brother Marc Kielburger, of We Charity, as well as We Day and the independent social enterprise Me to We. On April 11, 2008, Kielburger was named a member of the Order of Canada. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Leaders' Debates Commission.

Early life and education

Craig Kielburger was born in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada, to Fred and Theresa Kielburger, two teachers and real estate investors.

He attended Blessed Scalabrini Catholic School, in Thornhill, and Mary Ward Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough, Toronto. In 2002, he entered the Peace and Conflict Studies program at the University of Toronto. In 2009, he completed the Kellogg-Schulich Executive MBA program at York University.

Activism

We Charity

Main article: We Charity

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.

Craig’s parents, Fred and Theresa Kielburger, supported the early stages of the organization, 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. 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".

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. Upon his return, Kielburger attracted international media attention with features on 60 Minutes and the Oprah Winfrey Show. His South Asian trip was documented in the Judy Jackson documentary "It Takes a Child".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.

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. Eventually, it developed an international development model focused on education, water, health care, food security and income generation.

In 2016, Free The Children rebranded as WE Charity, 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.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. 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.

Me to We

Main article: Me to We

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.

In 2008, Kielburger co-founded ME to WE, 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.

Controversy and criticism

See also: We Charity controversy

Craig Kielburger and fellow We Charity co-founder Marc Kielburger announced they were pulling out of a $912 million Canada Student Grant contract because of the "controversy" the awarding of the contract raised. The contract with the We Charity had raised accusations of favoritism, since the government was outsourcing a massive federal aid program to a private organization with close ties to the prime minister. Following this, Opposition members of Parliament (MPs) asked the auditor general and the procurement ombudsman to investigate the contract, and other contracts awarded to We Charity over the years.

Marc Kielburger later said he "misspoke" when he told youth leaders that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's staff reached out in April to see if the organization would administer a $912 million federal student-aid program, a claim the Prime Minister's Office dismissed as untrue.

Public life

Craig Kielburger addressing candidates at the 2013 York University Convocation

Kielburger contributes a regular column called "Global Voices" for the Vancouver Sun, Halifax Chronicle Herald, Edmonton Journal, Victoria Times Colonist, Waterloo Region Record, Winnipeg Free Press, Huffington Post and Huffington Post Canada online.

He is the author of 12 books, several co-written with his brother Marc Kielburger Their latest publication (2018) is WEconomy: You Can Find Meaning, Make a Living, and Change the World, co-authored with Holly Branson, daughter of business magnate Richard Branson

In 2000, Kielburger was awarded $319,000 in damages as settlement for a libel suit launched against the now-defunct Saturday Night magazine. The settlement covered Kielburger's legal costs and the remainder was used to set up a trust fund for Free The Children.

In 2007, at age 25, Craig Kielburger was inducted into the Order of Canada, the second-youngest Canadian ever to receive the honor.

In 2012, Craig Kielburger Secondary School opened its doors in Milton, Ontario. The school was named for the activist after a campaign by two former and two current students.

In 2013, Kielburger was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame, alongside his elder brother Marc Kielburger.

He participated in the 2015 edition of Canada Reads, advocating for Thomas King's book The Inconvenient Indian.

Honours

Awards

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

Orders, decorations and medals

Commonwealth honours

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 6 February 2012 – Present Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (Canadian Version)

Scholastic

Honorary degrees
Location Date School Degree Status
 Ontario 9 June 2005 Nipissing University Doctor of Education (D.Ed)
 Ontario June 2007 University of Guelph Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 Ontario Fall 2009 University of Windsor Doctor of Humanities (DHL)
 Ontario 3 June 2011 Trent University Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 Ontario 8 June 2011 University of Toronto Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 Ontario 14 June 2011 University of Western Ontario Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 Ontario June 2011 Wilfrid Laurier University Doctor of Letters (D.Litt)
 Ontario 2012 Carleton University Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 British Columbia 31 May 2012 Kwantlen Polytechnic University Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 Quebec June 2012 Concordia University Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 Ontario Spring 2013 York University Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
 British Columbia 2014 Thompson Rivers University Doctor of Letters (D. Litt)
 Ontario 2018 University of Ontario Institute of Technology Doctor of Laws (LL.D)
This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (July 2020)

Bibliography

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.
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  • Free the Children (1998)
  • Me to We (with Marc Kielburger, 2004)
  • Take Action (with Marc Kielburger, 2002)
  • Take More Action (with Marc Kielburger, 2008)
  • Making of an Activist (with Marc Kielburger, 2007)
  • The World Needs Your Kid (with Marc Kielburger, 2009)
  • Global Voices: Volume 1 (with Marc Kielburger, 2010)
  • Lessons From A Street Kid (2011)
  • Living Me to We: The Guide for Socially Conscious Canadians (with Marc Kielburger, 2012)
  • The Power of We Day: Moving the World from Me to We (with Marc Kielburger, 2013)
  • My Grandma Follows Me on Twitter ( with Marc Kielburger, 2012)
  • WEconomy (with Marc Kielburger and Holly Branson, 2018)

References

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