Amanda Maitland says a personal speech she was supposed to deliver during an anti-racism tour for the WE Charity was rewritten by a mostly white team of staff. The new speech — she says — largely erased her own story of experiencing racism as a black woman.
A former employee of WE Charity says a speech she wrote for a WE Schools tour about her experiences as a Black woman was changed without her consent by a mostly white group of staff members.
Amanda Maitland told CBC News that the speech was supposed to be delivered on an anti-racism tour of schools in Alberta in February and March 2019. She said WE staff initially made minor changes but later told her to deliver a different speech altogether, largely written by them.
“I felt like I was sinking in sand. I felt anger,” said Maitland.
“They took my story, and they wanted me to elaborate on things that were just, I guess, more socially accepted.”
Maitland told CBC News that when she tried to speak up about some of the problems within the organization at a WE town hall a few months after her tour, she was “aggressively” shut down by WE co-founder Marc Kielburger in front of a room full of her peers.
WE is an international organization that operates educational and social justice programs in Canada and internationally. WE Charity is the non-profit arm of the organization, with programs like WE Schools. Me to We is its for-profit social enterprise. Last week, WE Charity stepped back from a $19.5-million contract to administer a $900-million federal government student grant program amid criticism of the sole-source nature of the contract and WE’s ability to carry it out.
WE said in a statement to CBC News, it “stands firmly for inclusion, diversity and the equitable, open treatment of all.”
“We have directly and publicly apologized to Amanda and to all current and former BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, people of colour] employees for past instances involving unconscious bias,” the statement said.
But Maitland’s story — which she first shared on Instagram — has sparked widespread discussion on social media about WE. Some have begun sharing their own experiences while working at the organization, and a petition signed by 150 current and former employees is circulating, calling on WE to take specific anti-racist measures.
CBC News has spoken to 15 former WE employees, some of whom confirm Maitland’s speech was changed, and some who were at the town hall where Maitland spoke out publicly. Most described a “culture of fear” within the charity when it came to challenging or criticizing decisions.
Speech change
Maitland said she was hired by WE as a motivational speaker and leadership facilitator in the fall of 2018. She was asked to deliver a speech about her personal experience with racism on an anti-racism tour in Alberta in early 2019.
“I have a lot of experiences when it comes to racial injustice. So, I was excited — I was over the moon,” said Maitland.
She began writing the speech, initially going back and forth with a WE Charity team who made minor edits, she said.
She said she delivered her speech several times on the tour, but on a brief return trip to Toronto, WE Charity staff gave her a different speech to deliver.
“I was literally … told that there had to be changes made,” said Maitland, who said it was the first she’d heard of any issues with her speech.
“I had no emails while travelling. I had no phone calls. No mess