This Me to We perspective also became the focal point of the large youth rallies the brothers held, gathering children and encouraging them to participate in and lead charitable and community events. This drive helped reshape his social enterprise, ME to WE, which operates on a for-profit basis through the sale of products linked to social and economic development.
His ambition to connect the tools of corporate development with progressive change has brought some challenges, including reports of very long workdays from employees and accusations that WE Day rallies are excessively commercialized.
Kielburger continued to enjoy a prolific public presence. He and Marc regularly contributed articles on socially conscious living to major newspapers in Canada.
Craig Kielburger had been in contact with government offices to discuss student-oriented programs earlier in the year. These critics expressed concern that the history of appearances by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several of his family members at WE events influenced the decision to award WE the contract. Though the charity stepped away from the contract in early July, the controversy deepened for the government and WE.
More details emerged that pointed to possible conflicts of interest. It came to light that several members of the Trudeau family had been paid for speaking at WE events. The charity had previously denied making any such payments. In the wake of these revelations, Trudeau and Morneau apologized for not recusing themselves from cabinet discussions about the CSSG contract.
Questions continued to hound the Kielburgers and their organizations. Douglas said that she resigned because she could not carry out her oversight duties without access to financial data. They claimed that they would not have profited from the contract and that they did not use their connections to the Trudeau family to secure it. On 9 September , the Kielburgers revealed that they would close WE Charity in Canada and leave the organization at the end of that process.
Craig Kielburger, Free the Children Iqbal lived under the constant threat of being beaten with sticks or metal tools. When he was 10, he escaped with the help of a human rights organization that later sent him to school.
He traveled to many countries, speaking out against child labor. But in , 12 year-old Iqbal was murdered. His mother remains convinced that the carpet factory owner had a hand in his killing. It was soon forgotten by both the mainstream media and its readers. Craig Kielburger was searching through a Toronto newspaper for the comics when a photo of Iqbal caught his eye.
What he saw reflected back at him were profound differences between the two. With the dawning realization that slavery was still very much in existence, Kielburger photocopied the article on Iqbal Masih and gathered statistics on child labor at the local library.
With all the idealism and zeal of youth, he spoke to his class about what he had learned, and his crusade against child labor had begun. We passed around a couple of petitions to political leaders and heads of corporations. Then, a few of us gave speeches in schools and for religious and community groups, and it just began to snowball from there. On one occasion, Free the Children members learned that Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian leader in the fight against child labor, had been imprisoned for his actions on behalf of child workers.
The petition and the letter were sent to India in a shoebox wrapped in brown paper. Satyarthi was eventually released. He learned that the boy, Iqbal Masih, had been murdered for speaking out about unspeakable child labor practices in his country.
This led Craig on a trip to South Asia where he witnessed first-hand the horrors of child labor. Upon his return, he wrote about it in a book called, Free The Children.
Together with his brother Marc, Craig committed his life to helping children. The Free The Children initiative became a lifelong mission to effect positive change in the world.
The idea eventually led to the WE Movement a movement of people coming together to change the world. Craig Kielburger is also the co-founder of ME to WE, which has been described as a pioneering social enterprise.
The profits from ME to WE help sustain the work of the partner charitable organizations. Because of his advocacy work, Craig has been featured in the media many times.
For his philanthropic efforts, Craig has been recognized internationally. He would also love to work with countries that are post-conflict, reaching out to help children, especially child soldiers, with the rehabilitation process. When he was 12, he did a science-fair project. He got really excited and started collecting signatures for a petition to ban products that were harmful to the environment.
I remember watching him and thinking how amazing it was [that] he's changing the world Then, when I read that article when I was 12, I thought about Marc If it wasn't for his example, I don't know if I ever would have taken that next step. Because he did it, I felt that I could do it too. My older brother is definitely my hero. Essays on Heroism. Watch our short introduction video for more information.
Ilse Bing was known as the queen of the Leica. Our gallery features art in the theme of heroism. All artworks in our commercial free, age-appropriate Gallery are contributed by professional and student artists as well as curated from art institutions around the world.
Learn more about sponsorship opportunities! In , when he was 12 years old, Craig Kielburger read a newspaper story that changed his life.
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