What We Lost: Inside the Attack on Canada's Largest Children's Charity

The Road Ahead

Justin Trudeau won another election, albeit with another minority government, and Charlie Angus and Pierre Poilievre held onto their seats, with the latter making a bid the Conservative leadership. Jesse Brown was named one of Toronto Life’s Top 50 most influential Torontonians, and a dozen journalists earned accolades for their coverage of the CSSG controversy. Everyone seemed to benefit from the controversy except the millions of youth in Canada who benefited from WE Charity. What does this mean for them? And what’s next for the organization? What does this say about the future of Canada?

The Fifth Estate

No media organization was more enthusiastic in its unwarranted crusade against WE Charity than the CBC, specifically Fifth Estate journalists Harvey Cashore and Mark Kelley. Their reporting escalated from recycling well-trodden issues around the CSSG to them soon breaking laws in Kenya, and they ignored any evidence that would prove their hypothesis wrong. They had a story in mind, and they were going to tell it no matter how many donors pointed out the flaws in their research, or youth and employees spoke about their positive experiences or forensic audits were produced.

An International Affair

It wasn’t just politicians and pundits looking to benefit from the CSSG controversy. Reed Cowan, a journalist and former WE Charity donor decided to step into the fray for his 15 seconds of fame. Cowan soon sought to extort the charity for more than $40 million, for his silence. WE Charity was proud of its work in developing countries and had nothing to hide. Beneficiaries of their work and forensic auditors concurred. But those voices were ignored by the media for more salacious headlines. What was the real story before the headlines?

Manufactured Outrage

WE Charity started to wind down in Canada, but that didn’t mean that politicians and the media were done with trying to tear down its reputation. Politicians like Charlie Angus and Pierre Poilievre were again taking every opportunity to score political points, and they cared little about the collateral damage. Conservatives called on their army of supporters to harass owners of a speaker’s bureau, and Angus bullied a man suffering from a brain aneurysm. And of course, the Kielburgers were called to testify for another unprecedented three hours. Was anything really accomplished from this?

Closing Doors

Bill Morneau resigned his role as Finance Minister, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau prorogued Parliament, leaving WE Charity to twist in the wind. As a result of the partisan politics and often inaccurate media reporting, WE Charity faced a difficult and devastating decision – closing its doors in Canada. Politicians and pundits like Pierre Poilievre and Jesse Brown claimed it was nothing more than a publicity stunt. But what was really behind the board’s decision to close the charity in Canada?