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WE employees say they were told to attend the 2018 holiday party on the boarding of Bill Morneau

 


The guests posing for photos at a Bill Morneau holiday party held downtown Toronto riding in December 2018 were all smiling, but not everyone was having a good time.

Some former WE Charity employees told CBC News that they felt pressured to attend the event and claimed that they were not told by their supervisors that the party would be hosted by the finance minister and MP for the Toronto Center.

“None of us wanted to go,” said a former employee whom CBC News has agreed to refer to as Robin.

Robin is one of three former charity WE employees who claim that Marc Kielburger co-founder Jackie Pilon’s staff repeatedly asked them to attend the event on December 13, 2018, even after they told her that they would not be better.

Robin claims that Pylon asked them to go after work to “fill the room” and that Pylon described the celebration as if it were a “WE event or a Craig Kielburger event”, referring to Kielburger’s brother and CRAigKielburger co-founder.

“[She] kind of dance held around every detail. It was framed as if it were a Craig-centric event, and Bill Morneau would just happen to be there. “

‘That was too much for Bill Morneau’

When Robin and nine other colleagues arrived in the evening, they were surprised to see protesters against the pipeline outside downtown Toronto, a former community center known as 519 that now houses an event space and offices of local organizations.

“It was a lot for Bill Morneau and it was a lot for the Liberals,” Robin said.

Another former employee who attended the party in Morneau says we paid for staff trips traveling to the scene and offered to let them come the next day.

The holiday event is one of several community events that Morneau holds on horseback and that are open to the public, said Pierre-Olivier Herbert, director of communications at Morneau. (Facebook / Bill Morneau)

Morneau communications director Pierre-Olivier Herbert said Morneau often invites “local community groups to events he expects during the trip”.

“Bill Morneau also hosts an annual BBQ and an annual holiday party on his ride, which is open to the public. Attendance for these free events is not followed,” Herbert said in a statement.

“WE have not received any invitation to any partisan or political events in the Toronto Center.”

Under federal income tax law, registered charities cannot use their resources to support political party candidates, but it is unclear whether the holiday would qualify as a political function without knowing if party donations were collected in this event, for example.

In a statement to CBC News, We called the allegations by former employees “significant mischaracterization of events”.

“Based on our data, and to the best of our knowledge, WE Charity and ME to WE social enterprise has never circulated an invitation for staff to attend a political event such as a political rally or political fundraiser. “, said the organization.

“However, as active members of the local community, WE Charity will attend and / or circulate staff information about local community events.”

Employees sign standard NDAs

The CBC agreed not to identify Robin and the other former WE employees involved in the story because they had all signed non-disclosure agreements with the EU that prevented them from speaking.

However, former employees say they want Canadians to know more about international development and youth empowerment charity that attracts wealthy and powerful supporters like Morneau and his family, who have donated a total of $ 100,000.

Liberals are under fire for potential conflicts of interest involving Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Morneau and WE, the charity the federal government chose to administer its volunteer student program, the Student Service Grant to Canada.

Co-founders Craig Kielburger, left, and Marc Kielburger, right, introduce Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife, Sophie Grgoire Trudeau, to WE Day celebrations in Ottawa in 2015. Both Trudeau and Morneau have faced criticism for not revealing their connections. with their organization and non-reuse when a government contract was awarded to WE. (Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press)

This deal was eventually dissolved in the face of public criticism that the government did not seek further bids, that Trudeau had personal ties to the organization, and that some of the prime minister’s family members were paid for speaking commitments at WE events.

Neither Trudeau nor Morneau, both of whose family members were in contact with us, admitted themselves from cabinet contract award discussions, which would have seen WE Charity receive up to $ 43.5 million to oversee the program. .

Testifying before the Commons finance committee on Tuesday, the Kielburger brothers said WE Charity is a non-partisan organization that has worked with federal and provincial governments of all political strata in Canada.

Trudeau is scheduled to testify before the committee on Thursday.

The trip to Kenya included meeting with WE

In July 2017, while traveling in Kenya, Morneau’s wife and one of his daughters visited WE facilities and met with WErep representatives to learn about the charity work in the country.

Four months later, on November 9, 2017, Morneau selected the Global Learning Center at the EU in Toronto to begin its public budget consultations, which typically involve meetings with a variety of special interest groups across the country..

“The purpose of these events is to hear from Canadians about their priorities, ideas and suggestions on what should be included in the next budget,” a Morneau spokesman said of the event.

“The pre-budget consultations organized by WE were one of many events held with a range of key stakeholders on issues of importance to Canadians, such as science, innovation and gender equality.”

One month after the budget consultation, the Morneau family joined the EU in Ecuador.

The Minister of Finance recently reimbursed WE $ 41,366 for travel expenses from the two trips.

Kielburgers at a WE Day event in California last year. The charity said in a statement “it would be an inaccurate representation to use anecdotal information of a very small number of anonymous individuals to reflect the charity WE culture in the workplace”. (Reuters)

Impressive donuts take precedence, says the former employee

Robin says in retrospect, the employer might not have said No to Pilon, but at this point, they thought they had no choice but to attend the boarding event.

Robin eventually decided to leave WE Charity, once known as Free the Children.

“I did not say in the work we were doing, because the need to please and impress donors takes precedence.”

CBCNews contacted 15 former EU staffers who, when asked, said it was difficult to challenge the Kielburger brothers and members of their executive team.

A former employee, who also did not want to be named, said she feared she would be fired or lose promotion opportunities if she pushed her back.

“You have to be ready in a moment’s notice and say yes to whatever you were asked to do,” she said.

In her statement, We said “it would be an inaccurate representation to use anecdotal information of a very small number of anonymous individuals to reflect the WE Charity culture in the workplace”.

“We’m sorry if any of our 2,000 current and former employees have been made to feel like they can not come with our management team,” he said.

Impact of NDAs

Former employees all said they were afraid to speak publicly because they signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) as part of their employment contracts in the EU.

CBC News obtained a copy of such an NDA which prohibits personnel from disclosing “business and / or personal information relating to Craig Kielburger, Marc Kielburger” and “any person or company” with which WE “enters into a strategic alliance or any another partnership agreement. “

Employment attorney Danielle Rawlinson with the Monkhouse Law in Toronto reviewed the contract for CBC News. She said it is a standard NDA.

“We Charity can very well sue these employees if they talk to the media,” she said.

James Powell, the former global head of brand for both Charity and ME for us, the for-profit organizations, says he wants his former employer to release him from his non-disclosure deals. (Derek Hooper / CBC)

James Powell was the global head of brand for both the WE Charity and ME, NE, the organization’s profitable arm, before resigning in August 2017. Earlier this month, he posted a video on Instagram asking WE lawyers to release him from his NDAs.

As the video grew, Powell claims, he received messages from hundreds of current and former WE employees who also want to talk but can’t because they too are forced by the NDA.

In an interview with CBC News, Powell said the NDAs were “owned” over WE employees.

“We were constantly reminded … that we were not allowed to call or talk or share anything negative. And so I’m not happy with the minutes I talk about those things. And for me, that ‘s wrong.”



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