Canadian Tire Centre is the place to be April 9. Youth by the busloads will be streaming into 1000 Palladium Drive for the second annual We Day-Canada event. Talk about a pep rally! Imagine 16,000 students and a dazzling roster of iconic speakers and performers—all focused on making a positive difference in life. Last year’s national event, in Gatineau, was electric and this year’s headliners range from Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan and Martin Luther King III to the band Simple Plan and singer JRDN.
What’s We Day? It’s an educational youth empowerment event that is taking the philanthropic world by storm and is now going global, with events in the United States, Canada and the UK. Over 180,000 youth this year will come together, in stadium gatherings, for this initiative. Its aim is to inspire students to get involved in positive social change.
Students can’t buy a ticket to We Day. Instead, they earn it through service, by making a commitment to take action on at least one local and one global initiative of their choice as part of a year-long educational program called We Act. National We Day-Canada is free of charge to the thousands of students and educators in attendance thanks to the support of sponsors.
In 50th anniversary year of his father’s memorable I Have a Dream speech, human rights advocate Martin Luther King III will be speaking at the April event. He is the eldest son of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Other headliners include:
Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan (@QueenNoor)
National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo – National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations
Simple Plan (@SimplePlan) – JUNO Award-winning band
Kardinal Offishall (@KardinalO) – Award-winning Canadian rapper and record producer
JRDN (@JRDNMusic) – Canadian R&B recording artist
Gen & Jas (The Oducado Twins) – MuchMusic Coca-Cola Covers Winners
Craig and Marc Kielburger (@CraigKielburger) – International activists and co-founders of Free The Children
Spencer West (@spencer2thewest) – Me to We inspirational speaker, Free The Children ambassador, author and double amputee who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro
Molly Burke (@mollymetowe) – Visually impaired Me to We inspirational speaker, Free The Children ambassador and author, who speaks about bullying and the power of hope
Hannah Alper (CallmeHannah.ca) – 11-year-old Me to We inspirational speaker, Free The Children ambassador, blogger and youth activist
Vishal Vijay (Childreninaction.ca) – Youth speaker
“I was truly inspired by my first We Day in 2013 and amazed by the energy, excitement and passion that came from the crowd of young people who were all eager to make the world a better place,” says Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan. “These young people are making a difference year-round in their local and global communities and I’m delighted to be able to share in that celebration with them again – this time in Canada’s capital.”
We Day is tied to the year-long program, We Act, which supports students and educators with free educational resources, student-led campaigns and support materials to help turn the event’s inspiration into sustained activation. Since 2007, youth involved in the We Act program have raised $37 million for over 1,000 local and global causes and logged more than 9.6 million volunteer hours.
We Day has over one million followers on Twitter and is one of the world’s largest charitable causes on Facebook with 3.9 million likes.
Stay connected:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/weday
Twitter: @weday @craigkielburger @freethechildren
Visit www.weday.com
