Exploitation of Donors to WE Charity

"While we understand why Mr. Cowan is upset that one of his plaques was removed -- and we regret that error -- the funds he raised 15 years ago has [sic] long since been used for the sort of charitable purposes everyone expected."

WE Charity headquarters, Toronto

 

"Regardless of if it's legal or not, engaging in questionable practices especially with regards to the public and donors, risks putting the entire sector in some level of disrepute."

"This is already a difficult time for charities, and I'm sure that the last thing that the sector wants is increased scrutiny on how charities are using their funds."

Alexandra Tzannidakis, lawyer, partner, tax and charity law firm Drache Aptowitzer

 

"WE Charity is not just another charity in Canada. It has partnered with governments and school boards across the country. Tens of thousands of students have, in good faith, helped fundraise to promote the work WE said they were doing."

"These claims must be investigated in order to reassure young people that their fundraising efforts are treated with the greatest trust."

Member of Parliament Charlie Angus

 

"The RCMP continues to examiner this matter carefully with all available information and will take appropriate actions as required."

Corporal Caroline Duval, spokesperson, RCMP

Cowan, an American TV journalist, wipes away tears while testifying remotely in front of the parliamentary ethics committee on Friday. The committee is probing WE Charity's ties to the family of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as to the family of former finance minister Bill Morneau. (Parliament of Canada)

 

The scandal surrounding the Toronto-based hugely popular WE Charity that had been nominated by the federal government to disburse almost $1 billion in COVID-related funding to high school students presumably on the basis that during the global pandemic's incursion in Canada part-time and summer jobs that usually fall to high-school students were no longer available. The funding of up to $5000 per applicant meant to represent what students might have earned and banked to pay their way through university was one of many schemes the Liberal government devised to 'help' Canadians financially.

 

That scheme fell through when it was revealed that WE Charity operated quite opaquely, and many of its operations turned out not only not to be charitable in nature, but that one of its arms used donations meant to be used by the charity in building schools in underdeveloped countries to take benefactors on all-expenses-paid trips overseas to view WE Charity operations abroad. Among them was Canada's then-finance minister, a wealthy man who allowed the charity to spend thousands on hosting him and his family on two international destinations.

 

  Justin Trudeau testifying July 30/20. Photo parlvu.parl.gc.ca

It was also revealed that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was a personal fan of the charity, lending the prestige of his office to its frequent fund-raisers and publicity events. The greatest public outrage erupted, however, when it was found that the prime minister's mother, Margaret Trudeau, was a paid speaker for the charity, earning tens of thousands in speaker's fees from them; as well one of the prime minister's brothers was also on its paid speaking circuit. As was the wife of the prime minister, whose 'expenses' were paid by the charity. Understandably, the contract the federal government was preparing to sign with WE Charity was suspended. Even as the prime minister and his entourage claimed to have known nothing about any irregularities.

 

Also suspended were ongoing Parliamentary investigations into the entire affair with its stench of corruption, due to the fact that the prime minister chose to suspend Parliament and with it all committee work. Now, the matter has been rekindled. WE Charity's arm in the United States had attracted the attention of an American donor who happens also to be a journalist. Reed Cowan spoke before members of the reborn parliamentary ethics committee to describe his shock on learning that a school in Kenya he had funded to honour his four-year-old son who had died in an accident in 2006 now bore a plaque in someone else's name.

It was for him, he said, like "returning to my son's grave and finding it broken, open, defiled and empty".  Evidently, donors were not expected on their own initiative, to visit those funded sites commemorating an intimate event. When he had spoken with We Charity cofounder Craig Kielburger, he was told what had occurred was "exceedingly rare". And nor is Mr. Cowan the first and only donor to describe personal frustration with dubious WE Charity donor recognition practices. Another donor, James Cohen, described the organization as assuring him that a group of donors he represented had been responsible for the entire enterprise of a borehole in Kenya to provide clean water for a community.

However, another donor described receiving a message from WE that her donation had been sufficient to implement a clean water system in Kenya; the accompanying photos showing the same borehole as that which Mr. Cohen had received. Bloomberg News had undertaken an investigation of their own where multiple sources noted donor recognition practices for projects in Africa with dubious backgrounds.The Bloomberg report quoted "A running joke among staff was that donor plaques hanging on buildings should be made of Velcro because they were swapped so frequently".

Employees were quoted by Bloomberg as describing a makeshift kitchen built overnight in a women's empowerment centre, the material brought from a nearby high school where the kitchen originated. That happened in the event of a "major benefactor" visiting a site he had funded and one of his requests was for a kitchen to be installed in the centre. Once the donor left after having inspected the centre he had funded, satisfied that it had been built to his specifications, the kitchen was again disassembled and restored to the school. 

"I'm shocked, astonished, horrified, you pick your word."
"The thing that's hard to let the donor public know is what a gigantic outlier and how unusual the allegations are against WE Charity."

Ann Rosenfeld, principal, Charitably Speaking

Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, are flanked by WE Charity co-founders Craig Kielburger, left, and his brother, Marc, at WE Day celebrations in Ottawa in 2015. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

"In 1995, 12-year-old Craig Kielburger read the story of Iqbal Masih, a child laborer of the same age who escaped slavery and was murdered for advocating for children’s rights. Inspired to take action, Craig rallied his classmates and his brother, Marc, to join him. Iqbal’s story showed Craig and Marc that people as young as them could drive significant change in the world. They channelled this inspiration into creating WE, a unique movement that sought to give young people a voice and a platform to become agents of global change."

WE Charity Website