Jesse Brown’s has a long, well documented history of unscrupulous reporting, being sued, inventing narratives and pushing false facts. Not long after starting Canadaland, he began to pursue a years-long vendetta against WE Charity and the Kielburgers.
Jesse Brown is the owner, publisher, reporter and editor of Canadaland. Jesse Brown serves all roles with no oversight, editing and fact checking his own work, which speaks to the veracity of the claims he makes. He got his start in traditional media, but parted ways with the CBC not long after he was disciplined by management at CBC radio for faking news content.
Soon after starting Canadaland, he become obsessed with WE Charity and the Kielburgers – writing story after story falsely accusing the founders and charity of various misdeeds, without ever landing any punches.
But the CSSG reignited his obsession. Jesse Brown tweeted constantly about the controversy and appeared on any talk show or news outlet that would have him. He went so low as to attack the Kielburgers' 80-year-old mother by repeating a lie from decades earlier. In 2000, Saturday Night magazine was sued for printing false claims about Theresa Kielburger. The magazine later consented to a judgement against them and paid Theresa Kielburger $309,000. In an effort to rewrite history, Jesse Brown repeated the same libel Saturday Night Magazine printed and is now being sued by Theresa Kielburger.
Acknowledged that he faked content while previously working at the CBC.
Learn moreGlobe and Mail describes him as owning “a track record of playing fast and loose with facts”.
Learn moreLongstanding obsession with destroying WE Charity and the Kielburgers.
Learn more
During the CSSG saga, the Kielburger family became routinely subject to death threats, largely due to the vitriol and false information shared by Pierre Poilievre and Charlie Angus. Jesse Brown subsequently tweeted a picture of Craig Kielburger’s infant son being held by Justin Trudeau. In the tweet, Jesse Brown linked the photo and shared anti-Trudeau rhetoric to his followers. Jesse Brown ignored the issue of death threats towards the Kielburger family and their children. He was asked to remove the tweet for security and safety reasons for the child and family but he refused.
*WE Charity has protected the identity of Craig Kielburger's son, but the original photo was posted by Brown without protecting the identity of his child*
Jesse Brown used the WE Charity issue to create try and legitimacy for himself in the Canadian media landscape, even though he has been widely considered a conspiracy theorist who regularly exaggerates facts. Here, Jesse Brown taweets that he will be a witness at the parliamentary hearings on the CSSG. David Akin, a prominent Canadian journalist, replied, questioning why a journalist would agree to testify at a parliamentary hearing and noting that it sets "a terrible precedent".
See original mediaJesse Brown regularly attacked WE Charity and would readily profile anyone on his platform who had something negative to say about the organization, whether legitimate or not. Meanwhile, he would quickly sweep his own human resources challenges under the rug, never acknowledging his own failings. Many of Jesse Brown's former employees have publicly accused him of misogyny, harassment, unequal pay, sexism and even racism. Here is just one example of many.
What WE Lost offers a deep investigation into Jesse Brown’s years-long obsession with trying to destroy WE Charity and its founders. Brown’s tactics of distorting the truth, lashing out at his critics, using unethical journalism practices and unqualified reporters is examined in detail by author Tawfiq Rangwala.
Martin Luther King III takes listeners behind the scenes to hear about Jesse Brown’s obsession with destroying WE Charity, its co-founders, and even their family members. Hear how Brown was blacklisted from the mainstream media and tried to take his revenge on a children’s charity.
