Back in March the bridge reported on extensive property acquisitions by Marc and Craig Kielburger’s WE to ME social enterprise and its subsidiaries near the organization’s global headquarters at 339 Queen Street East, near Parliament Street.
According to deeds at the Land Registry office, the for-profit arm of WE Charity spent about $11 million on real estate from 2016 to 2019 on the south side of Queen East between Parliament and Berkeley streets. WE also owns three rowhouse properties on the north side.
WE to ME bought the south-side land for a new Social Entrepreneurship Centre (SEC), a school for adults under 35 to promote social enterprise by building leadership and interpersonal skills. Initial planning and pre-application consultations with the City of Toronto were said to be complete.
Photo: Andre Bermon
Influential people on the SEC advisory board include superintendents with Toronto’s public and Catholic school boards; Jennifer Tory, chief administrative officer for the Royal Bank of Canada and sister of Toronto’s mayor; former Olympian Rick Hansen; former deputy prime minister John Manley; and Paul Polman, a former Unilever CEO.
During the ongoing controversy over the federal government’s contract with WE Charity to administer a $900 million student loan program, several key sponsors have parted ways with the organization.
RBC’s Jennifer Tory, a long time fundraiser for the Kielburgers, is a high-profile philanthropist on the SEC advisory board whose employer has severed ties to WE Charity. Both the public and Catholic school boards in Toronto are also reviewing their relations with WE Charity.
WE’s arrival and expansion in the downtown east was hailed as a major steppingstone in revitalizing the Moss Park/Regent Park corridor. The charity’s community outreach involved participation in the Queen Street East Committee of the Corktown Resident and Business Association, staff volunteering at the local Good Sheppard ministry, and a youth camp education program with Jessie’s Centre.
In a major turnaround from its rapid takeover of the Queen and Parliament area, the WE organization looks to be at a standstill. Its offices have remained quiet since the WE Charity scandal, and no information can be found about the future of the Social Entrepreneurship Centre.
By press time, WE had not yet responded to the bridge’s request for comment.
As the scandal continues to unwind, whether WE will resume an active role in the neighbourhood is up in the air. The restructuring effort the Kielburgers claim will return WE Charity “to its roots” could result in divesture of real estate assets across the city.
Whatever the case, a makeover of its Queen and Parliament operation is likely.
