Marc Kielburger

Marc Kielburger in 2008.

Marc Kielburger, CM, OMC (born 1977) is a Canadian author, humanitarian and activist for children's rights. He is the co-founder of Free The Children, an international development and youth empowerment organization, and the co-founder and co-CEO of Me to We, its partner social enterprise.

Education

After attending Brebeuf College School in Toronto, Kielburger graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, completing a degree in International Relations. He won a coveted Rhodes Scholarship and went on to complete a law degree at Oxford University with an emphasis on human rights law.

Activism and Social Entrepreneurship

Marc Kielburger is the co-founder of Free The Children, an international charity and educational partner that empowers youth to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change. Empowering hundreds of thousands of young people in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, the organization has worked in 45 countries and built more than 650 schools and school rooms in developing regions, providing education to more than 55,000 children daily.

Marc is also the co-founder and co-CEO of Me to We. A social enterprise, Me to We offers socially conscious and environmentally friendly clothes and accessories, as well as international volunteer trips, a speakers’ bureau, leadership training programs and materials, and books which address issues of positive social change. In addition, half of Me to We’s net profit is donated to Free The Children, while the other half is reinvested to grow the enterprise and its social mission.

Each year, Free The Children’s We Day, the organization’s signature domestic event, reaches 70,000 students in person and more than 5.4 million through televised broadcasts. We Day brings young leaders together in five cities across Canada, along with Nobel Peace Laureates, heads of state, celebrities, rock bands, actors and pop icons, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, former President Bill Clinton, Queen Noor of Jordan, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Jane Goodall and Sir Richard Branson.

Kielburger contributes a regular column about social activism around the world 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. Along with his brother Marc Kielburger, he also authors a column in the Globe and Mail called “Ask the Kielburgers,” which offers tips on giving back and socially conscious living.

Marc's work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, BBC as well as many other news and print media.

On November 17, 2009, Marc appeared on The Colbert Report during a segment discussing child labor.

Recognition and Awards

Marc is the recipient of many honours, including the Order of Canada and selection by the World Economic Forum as one of the 250 Young Global Leaders. For his work in the field of education and human rights, Marc has received six honorary degrees, including an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Toronto in Spring 2011.

• Youngest person ever to be awarded the Ontario Medal for Good Citizenship
• At the time (2004, aged 27), he became the youngest to be selected as one of Canada’s "Top 40 Leaders Under Forty" (In 2006, aged 23, his brother Craig became the youngest.)
• Honorary doctorate from Nipissing University for his work in leadership development
• Toronto Catholic District School Board Alumnus of the Year Award, 2005^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography

• Me to We (with Craig Kielburger, 2004)
• Take Action (with Craig Kielburger, 2002)
• Take More Action (with Craig Kielburger, 2008)
• Making of an Activist (with Craig Kielburger, 2007)
• The World Needs Your Kid (with Craig Kielburger, 2009)
• Global Voices: Volume 1 (with Craig Kielburger, 2010)

External links

• Free The Children Official website
• Me to We
• Craig and Marc Kielburger Interview on The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos