Chapter One – The Children's Crusade

Episode • Aug 20, 2021 • 31m

Craig Kielburger was the Greta Thunberg of the 90s – a 12 year-old kid from the suburbs who dreamed of freeing the world’s children from slavery. His activism made him famous, and he was endorsed by Oprah, the Pope, the Queen, and the Clintons. His campaign became a global movement and a powerful brand.

But right from the start, there were uncomfortable questions about money and exploitation. Decades later, it all came crashing down. But the seeds of WE’s self-destruction were planted right from the start…

Official responses from WE:

According to the WE Organization: neither the WE Organization nor Marc or Craig Kielburger have ever been investigated by a law enforcement agency, currently or in the past.

The WE Organization maintains that all financial transactions between its various entities, both charitable and for-profit, have followed all applicable laws.

In his libel claim against Saturday Night Magazine: Craig Kielburger said that the article was false and led people to wrongly believe he was keeping the money for himself. According to a reported statement by a Free the Children accountant, donations made prior to the organization becoming a registered charity were deposited in a separate bank account, and the group was being run as a charity pending Revenue Canada’s approval of its application.

2018 investigation:

https://www.canadaland.com/all-of-wes-answers-to-canadaland-and-letters-from-their-lawyers/

2019 investigation:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21044335-we-responses-to-canadaland-2019?responsive=1&title=1

Further reading:

Canadaland’s reporting on WE Charity: https://www.canadaland.com/?s=we+charity

The WE Charity story, according to WE:

https://www.we.org/en-CA/about-we/we-charity/our-story

WE.org Transparency page:

https://www.we.org/en-CA/transparency-reporting/we-charity

WE.org Financials page:

https://www.we.org/en-CA/about-we/we-charity/governance/