Craig Kielburger, activist

Craig Kielburger is a philanthropist, social activist for children’s rights and bestselling author. Along with his older brother Marc, he is the co-founder of Free The Children, Me to We, and We Day.

“What we do is try to empower the next generation,” says Kielburger, a Thornhill native. These initiatives engage youth in civic projects to make an impact and help raise funds for schools, education, food and clean water and health programs in countries overseas.

School participants from 2014–2015 in Ontario alone have collected 823,000 pounds of food for local food banks. The international event is now celebrated with We Days in Canada and in the U.S. and U.K. We Day brings together 200,000 students from over 10,000 schools. 

“Students can’t buy a ticket to We Day. They earn it by taking one local and one global action through We Schools, a year-long educational program that engages, educates and empowers young people to become compassionate leaders and active citizens,” says Kielburger.

Toronto’s We Day at the Air Canada Centre on Oct. 1 had 20,000 students and educators from more than 900 schools. Speakers and performers included Demi Lovato, Nina Dobrev, Nick Jonas and Shawn Mendes.

PM Trudeau attended Ottawa’s recent We Day. “It was an extraordinary and an important milestone that our head of state is concerned about young people,” says Kielburger.

In November, Kielburger visited Craig Kielburger Secondary School in Milton, thanking them for sponsoring an Adopt-A-Village program. The goal is to raise $10,000 to support a village in China by building sustainable farming practices.