WE & Rick Hansen Foundation Partner Advocating for Accessibility Across Canada

OTTAWA, Nov. 13, 2017 /CNW/ - Today, the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) and WE announce a new partnership that will break down barriers for people with disabilities by advocating for a more accessible Canada. RHF, an organization that raises awareness, changes attitudes, and removes barriers for people with disabilities, and WE, a family of organizations making doing good, doable, are committed to raising awareness and advocating together for accessibility and inclusion across the country, aiming to mobilize young Canadians to help build an accessible and inclusive society. By removing barriers for people with disabilities, all Canadians can be free to fully engage in their local and global communities.

"I have such respect for Marc and Craig Kielburger and the whole WE team and the exceptional work they do. I'm thrilled to build on the years of work and collaboration between WE and the Rick Hansen Foundation that has been focused on inspiring youth to be inclusive and make sure that people with disabilities do not get left behind," said three-time Paralympic gold medalist, Founder & CEO of the Rick Hansen Foundation, Rick Hansen. "Working on this mandate for 30 years, one thing I've learned is that we can't get there alone. This key partnership means together we can get there faster!"

"Our partnership with the Rick Hansen Foundation unites WE with an inclusive platform for youth to make a difference across the country, regardless of the obstacles set before them," said Craig Kielburger, co-founder of WE. "Over the years, Rick has been an incredible advocate for accessibility and inclusion in Canada, and we couldn't be more thrilled to come together and see what life-altering impacts we'll create in our pursuit of a barrier-free world."

In the spirit of empowering youth to think positively about people with disabilities and take action to remove barriers and build a fully inclusive society, this partnership will be amplified through WE Day, an international series of stadium-sized life-changing events. WE Day is the world's largest youth empowerment event—young people can't buy a ticket, they earn their way to attend by actions they take on local and global causes of their choice. As a Canadian icon and thought leader on the topic of accessibility and inclusion, Rick Hansen has inspired hundreds of thousands of young people at WE Day events across Canada. On Wednesday November 15, Rick will take the WE Day stage for the 15^th time at WE Day Ottawa. Media accreditation details for WE Day Ottawa can be found below.

Designed to cross promote and leverage the strengths of each organization, RHF is pleased to contribute accessibility and inclusion resources and expertise for WE facilities, including the new WE Global Learning Centre (WGLC).  The RHF Schools Program and WE programs together reach over 7,000 schools and groups across Canada.

As an example of what this partnership can and will accomplish, WE and RHF have worked together on assessments of the WGLC with a goal moving forward and becoming rated Certified "Gold" under the new RHF Accessibility Certification™ program.

About the Rick Hansen Foundation:

The Rick Hansen Foundation was established in 1988, following the completion of Rick Hansen's Man In Motion World Tour, to continue raising funds and awareness to create a world without barriers for people with disabilities. Over nearly 30 years, RHF has worked diligently to achieve real change through collaboration, partnerships and teamwork, inspired by Rick Hansen's original dream to liberate the amazing potential of people with disabilities. RHF breaks down barriers by changing attitudes, creating accessible spaces and inspiring an inclusive world. Find out more at rickhansen.com

About WE

WE Day is part of WE, a family of organizations making doing good, doable. WE is made up of WE Charity, empowering domestic and international change, ME to WE, a social enterprise that creates socially conscious products and experiences to help support the charity, and WE Day, filling stadiums around the world with the greatest celebration of social good. WE enables youth and families to better the world – supporting 7,200+ local and global causes by volunteering millions of hours of service, shopping daily with an impact, and raising millions of dollars that directly benefit their local communities and the world. Globally, WE's teams in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have provided more than 1 million people with clean water, built 1,000 schools and schoolrooms overseas, and empowered more than 200,000 children with access to education. WE was founded more than 20 years ago by social entrepreneurs, brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger. Join the movement today at WE.org.

For further press materials in English and French please visit the WE Media Centre

Click here to apply for media accreditation to attend WE Day Ottawa

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SOURCE WE Charity