About Us

Roots of Empathy is an internationally acclaimed, award winning charity whose mission is to build caring, peaceful, and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults. Since its creation, Roots of Empathy has reached 1.2 million children with its empathy-based programs. It has been called “Canada’s olive branch to the world”.

Through a series of classroom visits over the course of the school year by a neighborhood parent and infant, students are guided by a trained Roots of Empathy Instructor using a gold standard curriculum to read the babies emotional cues and take the baby’s perspective. Students also reflect on the loving relationship between baby and parent – the first and most powerful model of empathy.  Empathy is the ability to understand how others feel and to feel with them.  It’s at the core of our humanity. Empathy encourages inclusion, social cohesion and respect and is best developed through experiential learning.

Roots of Empathy has been endorsed by the Dalai Lama, the World Health Organization and the Assembly of First Nations. Roots of Empathy has been chosen five years in a row as one of the world's most inspiring social innovations by Finnish education organization HundrED.  It was also recognized by UpSocial in Athens, Greece and Lisbon, Portugal as an innovation best placed to address the challenge of children at risk of social exclusion through their project “Accelerating Change for Social Inclusion”.  Further, the Jacobs Foundation chose Roots of Empathy as one of the world’s top three best practice children’s organizations. In May 2018, Roots of Empathy Founder and President Mary Gordon received the Governor General's Innovation Award. The awards “recognize and celebrate outstanding Canadian individuals, teams and organizations – trailblazers and creators who contribute to our country’s success, who help share our future and who inspire the next generation…building an inclusive, compassionate society will be the keys to Canada’s success as a caring, efficient and prosperous nation.”

In Canada, Roots of Empathy programs are delivered in English and French in rural, urban, and remote communities. Roots of Empathy’s sibling program, Seeds of Empathy, fosters empathy and early literacy skills in childcare settings.

 Our Mission

To build caring, peaceful and civil societies through the development of empathy in children and adults and to break the inter-generational cycle of violence and poor parenting.

Our Goals

• To foster the development of empathy
• To develop emotional literacy
• To reduce levels of bullying, aggression and violence, and promote children’s pro-social behaviours
• To increase knowledge of human development, learning and infant safety
• To prepare students for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting