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Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Gorbachev among speakers at We Day
Ex-Soviet leader at youth-activism event
Mikhail Gorbachev
KIDS, your homework assignment this evening — ask your parents and grandparents how Mikhail Gorbachev helped them sleep better at night.
And then look forward to hearing the Nobel Peace Prize laureate speak at We Day Manitoba at the MTS Centre on Oct. 30.
Gorbachev, the former leader of the Soviet Union, will be the featured speaker at the second annual Free the Children event to inspire and empower 18,000 students from more than 380 schools to perform service.
While you’re doing that homework tonight, also check out and write three double-spaced pages on the Soviet Union — it no longer exists, thanks in considerable part to Gorbachev.
Nor, for the most part, do the nuclear tensions exist that had previous generations practising duck-and-cover techniques under their school desks and fearing global nuclear annihilation.
Also featured at We Day will be Manitoba’s own Justice Murray Sinclair, head of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools.
Activists and founders of Free the Children, Craig and Marc Kielburger, will lead what is expected to be an energetic crowd, along with host, recording artist Jesse Giddings.
Can’t get enough speakers?
Manitoba Minister of Children and Youth Opportunities Kevin Chief will speak. He has a long track record for the University of Winnipeg and the River East Transcona School Division of getting kids involved, with his work in Eco-Kids, the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sports Achievement Centre and the Innovative Learning Centre.
And even more speakers:
Liz Murray, author of the memoir, Breaking Night: My Journey from Homeless to Harvard;
Winnipeg’s Hannah Taylor, 16-year-old social activist and founder of the Ladybug Foundation and the Ladybug Foundation Education Program;
Spencer West, Me to We motivational speaker and Free the Children ambassador;
Robb Nash, Winnipeg native and motivational speaker.
And yes, yes, horde of 18,000 students, despair not, there will be music, your pop-culture appetite will be sated at We Day.
Featured performers include:
A performance by One Drop, a Cirque du Soleil founder’s initiative;
Lights, Juno Award winner and Canadian electro-rock singer-songwriter;
Shawn Desman, platinum-selling Juno and MMVA Award-winning recording artist;
Victoria Duffield, Canadian singer, actor and dancer;
Allstar Weekend, pop rock recording artists;
Justin Nozuka, Canadian singer-songwriter.
"We are so excited to be returning back to Manitoba for a second We Day at the MTS Centre," said Craig Kielburger. "Over the past year, we have seen such an incredible youth-led movement transpire across the province — from dances and candy-grams, to collecting non-perishable food and organizing discussions about aboriginal issues.
"We are so thrilled to see youth mobilizing, fundraising, and taking action on a variety of local and international causes, contributing to a global movement of active citizenship."
We Day Manitoba is supported by Hartley Richardson, president and CEO, James Richardson and Sons Ltd.; Bob Silver, president and CEO, Western Glove Works Ltd., and co-owner of the Winnipeg Free Press; and Mark Chipman, chairman, True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd.
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