Canada’s Walk of Fame – Craig and Marc Kielburger

Craig and Marc Kielburger are social entrepreneurs, New York Times bestselling authors, syndicated columnists and renowned human rights activists. They are co-founders of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner that empowers youth to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change.

The world’s largest youth-driven charity, Free The Children works in eight developing countries and has built more than 650 schools and school rooms, providing education to more than 55,000 children every day. The organization also delivers innovative programming to more than 6,000 groups and hundreds of thousands of young people in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

As part of its domestic programming, Free The Children empowers young people through its signature event, We Day, which has engaged 278,000 attendees at live events since 2007, and reached more than 5.7 million viewers through televised broadcasts. We Day, which is now in the U.S. and the UK, is one of the largest charitable events in the world.

Marc is the recipient of many honours, including the Order of Canada, and was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of 250 Young Global Leaders. Craig has received 13 honourary doctorates and degrees, as well as the Order of Canada, the Roosevelt Freedom Medal and the World Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child in recognition of his contributions. Their work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, 60 Minutes, CNN, National Geographic, TIME, and The Economist.

Interesting Facts

In 2004, at 27, Marc Kielburger became the youngest person to be selected as one of Canada’s “Top 40 Leaders Under 40” and in 2006, at age 23, his brother Craig Kielburger beat this record and became the youngest person to be selected as one of Canada’s “Top 40 Leaders Under 40”.