Craig Kielburger

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 by the Governor General of Canada.He currently serves on the advisory board of the Leaders' Debates Commission.

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.

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 the Former Prime Minister of Canada Kim Campbell, Margaret Trudeau and The First Lady Margaret Kenyatta attending the event. In August 2019, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau and Craig Kielburger announced that the federal government will be donating $3 million to the WE Social Entrepreneurs initiative.

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.

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 KielburgerTheir 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.

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)