| Written by Sheila Dabu, The Catholic Register,
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 Craig and Marc Kielburger
On the day before Christmas about 15 years ago, during a last-minute shopping run with their mother, the Kielburgers had their first up-close encounter with homelessness.
Their mother, Theresa, stopped to talk with a homeless man on the busy sidewalk. Craig recalls that it was the first of several encounters with homeless people. Their mother never lectured them about it, he said, but always took the time to explain that some people do not have a family, a home or even Christmas presents.
This is one of many stories of role modelling in the Kielburgers’ new book for parents and teachers The World Needs Your Kid: How to raise children who care and contribute. The book was co-written with Ottawa Citizen writer Shelley Page.
In the book, the Kielburgers tout their parents as their “greatest teachers.” It was their example that helped inspire the brothers’ involvement in social justice.
At age 12, Craig’s interest in children’s rights was sparked by a story in a local newspaper about a children’s rights activist in Pakistan. Not long afterwards, he launched the international non-profit organization Free the Children, and now runs it with Marc, 32, a Rhodes scholar and lawyer. The Kielburgers are both recipients of the Order of Canada.
Aside from their parents, they say they also admire Mother Teresa as a role model.
The Kielburger parents were both teachers. Theresa worked with special needs students at St. Cyril School and volunteered for 10 years with the Young Christian Workers. Their father, Fred, volunteered with L’Arche founder Jean Vanier in France.
Craig told The Catholic Register that living out your faith is about praising God “not just in name or words but in action.”
Teachers are “the most powerful people in the world,” he told a crowd of about 1,700 teachers at the annual When Faith Meets Pedagogy conference on Oct. 23. Parents and teachers can both help nurture kids to be compassionate and empathetic and create opportunities for children to be of service to others, he said.
According to Craig, Catholic education is “more than the three R’s” of reading, writing and arithmetic. It also teaches students about values and the gift of service. Both are graduates of Ontario’s public Catholic education system. Marc attended Brebeuf High School while Craig was a student at Mary Ward High School.
In the book, the brothers highlight the importance of the “three C’s” of compassion, courage and community and include stories from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr. Jane Goodall and Canadian basketball star Steve Nash. They also recount the story of receiving a phone call from the Dalai Lama who invited Craig to join a conference in Sweden reflecting upon society’s greatest challenge — social apathy.
“If the Dalai Lama is right, the greatest challenge facing our time is that we are raising a generation of passive bystanders,” the Kielburgers write. “It follows that the most important work at this moment belongs to parents.”
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