Welcome to L’Arche Daybreak

L’Arche Daybreak welcomes men and womenwith intellectual disabilities and the assistants who live, workand learn with them. People are drawn to our community from all over the world seeking a different way of life and bringing with them a widerange of beliefs, backgrounds and qualifications. The orientationprogram for assistants fosters personal growth, competence and lasting friendships.

In a world that often sees people with intellectual disabilities as less than whole, L’Arche celebrates their creativity, transparency and great capacity for joy as important gifts to be shared. Started by Jean Vanier in France in 1964, L’Arche has become an international movement with over 100 communities throughout the world. Founded in 1969 in Richmond Hill, Ontario, L’Arche Daybreak is the oldest L’Arche community in North America.

Many local friends participate in our community life as volunteers. Other friends, students and visitors attend our worship services or retreats at Dayspring, our spiritual centre. L’Arche Daybreak is a dynamic example of how people of different intellectual capacity, social origin and culture can live and learn together.

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Life in L'Arche is simple: we welcome four or five people with disabilities to live with four or five assistants. Together we create homes of welcome and celebration, sharing the daily tasks of cooking, cleaning, and shopping: and the assistants help marginalized people to claim dignity, self-confidence, and respect in the home and in meaningful work opportunities. The great discovery for assistants has been that our lives in community have been good not only for them but also for us.”

Sue Mosteller, Member of L’Arche Daybreak