July 2nd, 2020

WE affirms our commitment to anti-racism and specifically to addressing BIPOC racism.

We are aware that such a commitment must begin with a profound apology. We acknowledge and accept full responsibility for our role in causing harm to BIPOC members of our organization and the wider community.

We unreservedly apologize to all those, especially BIPOC employees and past BIPOC employees, who have directly and/or indirectly been harmed. We have also reached out to personally apologize to those harmed who have shared their story.

We recognize our structures and people are impacted by unconscious bias and that we are not immune to the multigenerational systematic racism inherent in our global community. Any negative impact caused to our past or current employees is unacceptable, and we and the organization will do the work necessary to affect positive change.

WE’s purpose is to help enable change and create good in the world, and diversity and inclusion is an important part of who we are. Our leadership team is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion throughout our organization and to supporting members of the BIPOC community.

Ideas voiced by many of our BIPOC community – current and former employees and stakeholders – will be carefully considered as we build a plan for purposeful actions to ensure we have meaningful and sustainable change with our organization. Our plan will be public, and we will hold ourselves accountable, reporting regularly on our progress. We are committed to taking further action and we need to do this inclusively, openly and transparently.

We acknowledge there is more to be done, and have simply started with recent public commitments, below, including implementing HR policies to limit bias in hiring, expanding Diversity & Inclusion training to be mandatory for all staff, and launching a Diversity & Inclusion Listening Tour inviting 2,500 of our current and former staff and any stakeholder to share their lived experience and make policy and action recommendations.

We also commit to hire BIPOC educators with the experience necessary to guide and provide recommendations for outcomes from this process. We further reaffirm our commitment to supporting young people who are taking action on anti-racism, specifically anti-black racism, and Black Lives Matter.

These are the first steps of our tangible actions both personally, and as an organization, to center the voices and experiences of BIPOC staff and partners, and to take the actions to ensure we are diverse, inclusive and welcoming to all.

Signed by

WE Charity Co-Founders, Marc Kielburger and Craig Kielburger

Also in support:

WE Charity Board of Directors Chairs, Dr. Jacqueline Sanderline and Greg Rogers WE Charity Executive Director, Dalal Al-Waheidi ME to WE Executive Director, Russ McLeod