Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister, activist, and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. King advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination.
Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez, known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. In a career spanning six decades he has received numerous accolades including three Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Raffi Cavoukian, known professionally by the mononym Raffi, is an Armenian-Canadian singer-lyricist and author born in Egypt best known for his children's music. In 1992, The Washington Post called him "the most popular children's singer in the English-speaking world". He developed his career as a "global troubadour" to become a music producer, author, entrepreneur, and founder of the Raffi Foundation for Child Honouring, an initiative focused on promoting children's rights and well-being. He has also been involved in advocacy for environmental and social causes, often addressing issues like commercial exploitation of children and climate change through his music and public appearances.
Gary Andrew Younge, is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic. He was editor-at-large for The Guardian newspaper, which he joined in 1993. In November 2019, it was announced that Younge had been appointed as professor of sociology at the University of Manchester and would be leaving his post at The Guardian, where he was a columnist for two decades, although he continued to write for the newspaper. He also writes for the New Statesman.
WE Charity, formerly known as Free the Children, is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. The organization implemented development programs in Asia, Africa and Latin America, focusing on education, water, health, food and economic opportunity. It also runs domestic programming for young people in Canada, the US and UK, promoting corporate-sponsored service learning and active citizenship. Charity Intelligence, a registered Canadian charity that rates over 750 Canadian charities, rates the "demonstrated impact" per dollar of We Charity as "Low" and has issued a "Donor Advisory" due to We Charity replacing most of its board of directors in 2020.
Colin Marsh Marshall, Baron Marshall of Knightsbridge, was a British businessman and member of the House of Lords.
Martin Luther King III is an American human rights activist, philanthropist and advocate. The elder son of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, King served as the fourth president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference from 1997 to 2004. As of 2024, he is a Professor of practice at the University of Virginia.
The Community of Christ International Peace Award was established to honor and bring attention to the work of peacemaking and peacemakers in the world. It has been bestowed on an individual each year since 1993.
Marc Kielburger is a Canadian author, social entrepreneur, columnist, humanitarian and activist for children's rights. He is the co-founder, along with his brother Craig, of the We Movement, which consists of the WE Charity, an international development and youth empowerment organization; Me to We, a for-profit company selling lifestyle products, leadership training and travel experience; and We Day, an annual youth empowerment event. In 2010, he was named a member of the Order of Canada by the Governor General of Canada.
Kailash Satyarthi is an Indian social reformer who campaigned against child labor in India and advocated the universal right to education.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, commonly known as The King Center, is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in Atlanta, United States.
Me to We is a for-profit company selling lifestyle products, leadership training and travel experience. Me to We was founded in 2008 by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. ME to WE’s engagements with the Trudeau family came under scrutiny after Justin Trudeau’s government awarded WE Charity a contract to administer the proposed Canada Student Service Grant program.
We Day was an annual series of stadium-sized youth empowerment events organized by We Charity, a Canadian charity founded by brothers Marc and Craig Kielburger. WE Day events host tens of thousands of students and celebrate the effect they have made on local and global issues. Students earn their tickets by participating in the We Schools program, a year-long service learning program run by We Charity. Each event features a lineup of social activists, speakers and musical performances. The event was cancelled in September 2020 with the winding down of Canadian operations of the We Charity, following the WE Charity scandal.
Canadaland is a Canadian digital media company and podcast network, focused on producing a network of podcasts. The company was founded by Jesse Brown in 2013. The original podcast covers Canadian media and media criticism. Subsequently, new shows have been added to the network covering a range of topics from current affairs, art and culture, cooking, medicine, and Canadian politics.
Wali Shah is a Canadian speaker, poet, musician and philanthropist. He has spoken most prominently on topics including bullying, mental health and social change, while creating spoken word poetry specifically tailored to his projects and engagements.
Hannah Alper is a Canadian activist, blogger, and journalist who was active in those fields before her teens.
A political scandal took place in Canada in 2020 regarding the awarding of a federal contract to WE Charity to administer the $912 million Canada Student Service Grant program (CSSG). The controversy arose when it was revealed that the WE charity had previously paid close family of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appear at its events, despite making claims to the contrary. In total, Craig Kielburger confirmed at a parliamentary committee, WE Charity paid approximately $425,000 to Trudeau's family including expenses. WE Charity also used pictures of Trudeau's family members as celebrity endorsements in their application. Trudeau stated that WE Charity had been uniquely capable of administering the program as "the only possible option", and that it was the civil service, not him, who decided that WE Charity was the best option. It was noted that not only had the charity employed a daughter of former Finance Minister Bill Morneau but a close relationship existed between the minister and members of its staff.
Spencer West is an American motivational speaker and disability advocate. West became an amputee after being born with sacral agenesis. He speaks about overcoming adversity and uses social media to advocate for the disability justice movement and the LGBTQ community.
What WE Lost: Inside the Attack on Canada's Largest Children's Charity is a book by Tawfiq S. Rangwala which documents the history of Canada's WE Charity scandal and its effects upon WE Charity. Rangwala, a New York City-based Canadian lawyer, sat on WE Charity's board of directors before stepping down in 2021 to write the book.
