WE DAY
WE DAY is truly remarkable! The annual event has inspired a whole generation of youth to care! It’s co-founders, brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger of Free The Children, indicate that WE DAY was created to “empower, educate, and above all, inspire”.
Since 2007, the annual event has featured a lineup of social activists, speakers, and musical performances. It is the start of a year-long initiative encouraging students to participate in Free the Children’s campaigns, or in any other local or global service action of their choice.
Free The Children was founded in 1995 by Craig Kielburger when he was 12 years old. Craig was reading through the Toronto Star newspaper before school one day when he came across an article about the murder of a 12-year-old Pakistani boy named Iqbal Masih, a former child carpet-factory worker, who had spoken out against child labour. Soon after, Kielburger established Free The Children with a group of his 12-year-old classmates. The organization was formed to raise awareness in North America about child labour and to encourage other children to get involved in the issue.
WE DAY is a free event for all students because it has corporate sponsors. To earn entry, schools must pledge one local and on
e international difference-making effort to pursue over the school year. WE Charity provides a limited number of tickets to each school and lets the schools decide how to choose which students attend. As of 2014, We Days take place in 14 cities worldwide.
First Vancouver WeDay (2009)
I was in attendance on September 29th, 2009, when 16,000 students attended the very first WE DAY in Vancouver to hear speakers including the Dalai Lama, Dr. Jane Goodall and Mia Farrow. Performers included K’naan, Sarah McLachlan and Jason Mraz. The Dalai Lama spoke to the crowd about making the 21st century peaceful. He shared the following with the crowd: “Peace does not mean no longer any problem, no longer conflict. Some form of differences, some form of conflict, (is) always there…Now peace means when there is possibility of conflict or violence, using our common sense and… compassion.”
2019 WE DAY Vancouver
This year WE DAY will be held on Tuesday, November 19th at Rogers Arena. Our school has 15? student tickets available for grade 7’s. The day long event, including public transit, will last from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. After WE DAY, the grade 7 Me to We Committee meets many Fridays after school from 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. to enact causes that focus less on ME and more about WE! Our first cause is Halloween for Hunger!