On Nov. 15, 17,000 students who earned their ticket to WE Day piled themselves into the Canadian Tire Centre to unite with other change-makers and well-known public speakers.
WE Day is hosted annually by WE Charity in 17 cities across the United States, Canada, the UK, and the Caribbean. The charity invites students to their events based on their involvement with social justice activism—for example, collecting food for homeless shelters or building schools overseas.
The afternoon was hosted by Keshia Chante and Mille Davis and included appearances from professional basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, young Ontario pop star Johnny Orlando, motivational speaker Spencer West, mental health advocate Margaret Trudeau, and Ottawa-born Youtuber Elle Mills.
Marc and Craig Kielburger, founders of WE Day, also announced a new initiative—WE Well-being—to tackle youth mental health concerns by providing resources and support. By combining promotion and prevention strategies, they hope to create an open conversation about mental well-being. WE already reaches 4.3 million young people through their existing programs.
“This is a program that empowers students, teachers, [and] families, all with the educational tools and the resources to promote their own positive mental well-being,” said Marc. The initiative is aimed to promote safe and caring relationships, reduce stigma, and increase well-being.
“It’s all about making doing good doable,” Marc Kielburger said in a speech with his brother Craig. The brothers also co-founded the charitable organization Free The Children, now known as WE Charity.
Aaliyah Cooper, a volunteer at WE Day Ottawa, has been attending the event for several years.
“Getting a ticket here is the hardest part,” Cooper said. “Schools join the WE Schools program and create a global and local action to get considered—you can’t just buy a ticket.”
One of the initiatives that Aaliyah took part in with her school was raising money for Free The Children through a bake-a-thon. “Getting to see the difference we made was my favourite part,” said Cooper.
The overarching theme of the day was acceptance and inclusion, focusing on mental health and well-being.
Elle Mills, a YouTube personality from Ottawa, spoke at the event about her own personal struggle.
“This year, I’ve personally been struggling with my mental health,” Mills said to the crowd. “I’m a bit of a workaholic . . . I ended up working myself to my breaking point and I’m here to tell you it’s not worth it.”
Mills has garnered up to 1.5 million YouTube subscribers since 2017.
WE Well-being is an initiative that could tackle issues similar to Mills’ within schools. WE Organizations will release a pilot version of the initiative to select elementary and secondary schools in the near future.
Students were encouraged not to forget about what happens at WE Day, but to bring it back to their communities, and continue doing good.
“Together you have collected 13 million pounds of food for food banks [and] volunteered over 40 million hours of service,” Craig said in closing.
“The best part is that there’s always next year!” Cooper said.
Photo by Jeff Pelletier
