About the fonds
The L’Arche Daybreak fonds is the organizational, administrative and community records of the L’Arche Daybreak community located in Richmond Hill, Ontario. L’Arche Daybreak is a member of the Catholic organization L’Arche International and is located in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. The original L’Arche home was founded by Jean Vanier in France in 1964, as a community for those with intellectual disabilities and their assistants to live together and provide support for each other. L’Arche Daybreak was founded in 1969 and is the oldest L’Arche community in North America.
At L’Arche Daybreak, individuals with intellectual disabilities, called core members, live with assistants at several group homes where they are encouraged to aid in the daily tasks of cooking, cleaning and shopping while developing strong bonds of friendship and mutual support with community members. In addition to providing support for community members, L’Arche Daybreak offers retreats and educational programs that serve to educate those not involved in the Daybreak community about the goals and work of L’Arche Daybreak and promote their message of diversity and unity. Today, L’Arche Daybreak includes eight homes located in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
The L’Arche Daybreak fonds consists of organizational, administrative and community records collected by L’Arche Daybreak between 1969 and 2009 before transfer to the Archival and Manuscript Collection at the Kelly Library in 2007.
Finding Guide
The fonds is 9.28 metres in extent and has been arranged into nine distinct series:
- Community Council Files
- Community Files
- Deceased Core Member Files
- Development Director Files
- Property Files
- Homes Coordinator Files
- Director- Board of Director Files
- Director- Financial Files
- Director- General Files
Related Material
L’Arche International/Internationale
Audiovisual Collection