by Zoe Beiles Image from CBC.ca OTTAWA, Canada — The WE Charity scandal has made headlines for most Canadian newspapers for a few weeks now, but while news stories have quickly moved on to look at how this ethical violation will affect the Liberal party, many Canadians are still puzzled as to what exactly the WE charity scandal is, and why it’s making headlines.
WE Charity is a global charity and educational organization started by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger in 1995. The organization’s mandate is to create lasting change in impoverished communities, and to empower youth around the world to make a difference. In the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, the charity is best known for its large presence in high schools. Programs such as WE Schools provide students with opportunities to volunteer and make a difference. However, they are even more well-known for their events such as WE Day. WE Day is an annual gathering meant to celebrate and connect young change-makers, and are renowned for the prominent guests who make an appearance. Notable guests include public figures such as Malala Yousafzai (UK, 2017), and popular bands such as The Chainsmokers (California, 2018). Among the noteworthy guests who spoke at WE Days of the past are members of the Prime Minister’s family. The PM’s wife, Sophie Trudeau, is highly involved as a volunteer at the WE charity, and the PM’s mother and brother have spoken at several WE events over the past four years. Trudeau has also been active with the charity in the past. While in essence, there is nothing wrong with appearing at these events, the appearances make tight ties between the Trudeau family and WE charity. Such ties proved to be an issue when the federal government announced to the Media on June 25th that they would be giving a contract to the WE charity to administer the Canadian Student Service Grant (CSSG), a 912-million-dollar student program. The aim of the program is to provide volunteer opportunities to youth whose job offers and volunteer plans have been disrupted due to COVID-19. Questions were raised about how the decision to grant the contract to the WE Charity had been made, and whether or not cronyism (using personal relationships such as friends or acquaintances to appoint jobs as opposed to looking at qualifications) came into play. According to Trudeau, the decision to give the contract to the WE Charity was not made by him, but rather by the Public Service Commission (PSC), on the grounds that the WE Charity was the only organization able to deliver on such a demanding project. Criticism still lies in the fact that the Prime Minister did not excuse himself completely from the conversation, considering his personal connection with the organization. Many questions also linger about the process through which the WE Charity was chosen, and whether or not it is true that the Prime Minister had no hand in awarding the contract to the organization. F urther criticism is being fired at Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who also has close ties to WE. One of his daughters, Grace Acan, is an employee of the WE Charity and has been working on a contract with them since 2019. His other daughter, Clare, has also been an active volunteer for the WE Charity in the past. Mr. Morneau also faces accusations of non-partisan decision making because he owed the WE Charity $41,000 for travel expenses which accumulated from a trip Morneau’s family made in 2017 to view some of the WE Charity’s work. According to Morneau, he was unaware that he owed the organization this money until he recently reviewed his family’s finances. This is not the first time money has been given to the We Charity by the Liberal government over the past few years. The amount of funding the WE Charity received from Canadian the government increased immensely while Trudeau had been in office, which has only served to cause further alarm about favoritism and partisan decision-making within the federal government concerning the WE Charity. After facing heavy criticism from the Conservative and NDP parties, the WE Charity announced they would be parting ways with the federal government and that the WE Charity would no longer be administering the CSSG. Despite having put an end to the deal, both the Prime Minister and the WE Charity are facing extreme backlash from the public. The WE Charity particularly has lost many of its large sponsors, who wish to distance themselves from the bad press. While investigations rage on and questions continue to be volleyed at the PM, youth are left with uncertainty as to what their plans are for the remainder of their summer. How the program will run amid and after all this controversy remains to be seen, and high school students might just have to turn to other organizations to fill the time.
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