- Bios, photos and information for WE Day Toronto available on the WE Day Toronto Electronic Press Kit -
- Follow #WEday on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram -
- WE Day Toronto streams live at 9:00 a.m. ET on September 28 on MTV.ca -
- WE Day Family streams live at 6:30 p.m. ET on September 28 on WE.org/watchweday -
- CTV to broadcast a one-hour WE Day special on Saturday, November 25, at 7 p.m. ET -
- WE Day is free to thousands of students thanks to partners led by National Co-Title Sponsors RBC and TELUS -
TORONTO, Sept. 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, WE Day, an international series of stadium-sized life-changing events, brings together world-renowned speakers and performers including Sabrina Carpenter, Sofia Carson, Andre De Grasse, Mia Farrow, Rick Hansen, Hedley, Vanessa Hudgens and Shawn Hook, Gaten Matarazzo, Penny Oleksiak, Lilly Singh, George Takei, Jacob Tremblay, Alexandre Trudeau, Spencer West, Former Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon, along with a surprise special guest and more. Alongside international activists and WE co-founders, Craig and Marc Kielburger, WE Day Toronto host Kelly Clarkson, event hosts Tyrone Edwards, E!/Much host, and Liz Trinnear, ETALK reporter and Much host, and youth hosts Hannah Alper and Tai Young, the cast of returning WE Day fan favourites and new faces join 20,000 students and educators to celebrate the contributions of young people and kick-start another year of change.
Alongside partners led by National Co-Title Sponsors RBC and TELUS, and Broadcast Partner CTV, the 10th annual WE Day Toronto will host over 600 schools from across Ontario and thousands more from all across the country watching live online on MTV.ca/weday. With celebrity speakers, renowned performers, and global thought leaders, WE Day Toronto celebrates the remarkable stories of people creating change.
“I’ve had the chance to speak at WE Day events across North America and meet so many people who are working together to make our world a better place,” said multi-award winning actor, Jacob Tremblay. “This year, my family and I took the pledge to live WE. Through actions both big and small, we work together to make a difference. I couldn’t be more proud to be on the WE Day Toronto and WE Day Family stage showing that together, young change-makers can make a real difference.”
Speakers and performers at WE Day Toronto will energize the crowd through a day full of powerful educational speeches, inspirational moments and empowering performances. A few must-see highlights include:
- Grammy award winning superstar, Kelly Clarkson, takes the WE Day Toronto stage to perform two of her hits, ‘Stronger’ and ‘Love So Soft’
- Secretary-General of the United Nations (2007-2016), Ban Ki-Moon, addresses the WE Day Toronto crowd, sharing words of encouragement and unity to thousands of youth in attendance
- Multi-platinum, JUNO and MMVA Award-winning recording group and WE Ambassadors, Hedley, rock the WE Day Toronto crowd with a performance of ‘Better Days’
- Entertainer, Lilly Singh, shares words of inspiration and the importance of #GirlLove with thousands of youth in the WE Day Toronto audience
WE Day Toronto will be taped for a special broadcast premiering on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV. The special encores on CTV Two on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at 10 p.m. ET, and again on Monday, December 18, 2017 at 8 p.m. ET on MTV.
More than a one-day event, WE Day is connected to the free, yearlong educational program WE Schools. Providing schools and community groups with curriculum, educational resources and action campaigns, the program is designed to enhance a school’s existing social initiatives or spark new ones. WE Schools encourages students to further their curricular learning and develop life skills for success beyond the classroom.
WE has been empowering young people to transform communities at home and around the globe for more than 20 years—and now the movement is also helping families across Canada make doing good, doable. The second annual WE Day Family event will take place on September 28, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. ET at the Air Canada Centre following WE Day Toronto. Families will enjoy an evening of music and inspiration, while learning how to make their local communities, and the world, a better place. For tips and social actions that are easy to build into families’ busy lives, as well as to sign up for the weekly WE Families newsletter, visit: WE.org/we-families.
“We’re honoured to celebrate with young change-makers from Generation WE, who have earned their way to WE Day by taking action on local and global issues,” said Craig Kielburger, co-founder of WE. “Today, WE Day Toronto and WE Day Family unite hard-working students, educators and families as they experience a day of inspiration, while celebrating their incredible achievements in service.”
Students can’t buy a ticket to WE Day—youth from across the country earn their way by the actions they take on one local and one global cause of their choice. This year WE Day is celebrating Generation WE—a generation filled with young people coming together to show their strength in numbers, Generation WE has the power to change local landscapes, for good. Generation WE is also about tackling global issues beyond one’s local sphere, expanding horizons to build worldwide cultural and social bridges. WE Day—the world’s largest youth empowerment event—is free of charge to students and educators across Canada, thanks to the generous support of partners led by National Co-Title Sponsors RBC and TELUS.
Over the lunch hour, WE Day will host WE run: fast like De Grasse, a special one-time outdoor event and celebration with Andre De Grasse, Canada’s fastest man. The Markham, Ontario sprinter first made a name for himself sweeping the 100m and 200m events at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games before winning medals at the 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympics. Andre will showcase his speed against special WE Day racers, including local star students and WE Day speakers and performers, on a 60m track on Air Canada Centre’s Bremner Loop. The free public event will take place during the WE Day Toronto intermission, where fans of sport and social good alike are invited to cheer on Andre and his opponents.
About WE
WE Day is part of WE, a family of organizations making doing good, doable. WE is made up of WE Charity, empowering domestic and international change, ME to WE, a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity, and WE Day, filling stadiums around the world with the greatest celebration of social good. WE enables youth and families to better the world—supporting 2,500+ local and global causes by volunteering millions of hours of service, shopping daily with an impact, and raising millions of dollars that directly benefit their local communities and the world. Globally, our teams in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have provided more than 1 million people with clean water, built 1,000 schools and schoolrooms overseas, and empowered more than 200,000 children with access to education. WE was founded more than 20 years ago by social entrepreneurs, brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. Join the movement today at WE.org.
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About RBC
www.rbc.com/futurelaunch
About TELUS
www.telus.com/community
For more information of WE Day or to request an interview, please contact:
Sarah Evans
Associate Director, Public Relations, WE Day
1-647-462-0654
sarah.evans@we.org