ABOUT US

We believe everyone has a place.

L’Arche Arnprior is a community of people with and without intellectual disabilities sharing life together in the Ottawa Valley.

For more than fifty years, we have been discovering something both simple and profound: every person has dignity, everyone has gifts to share, and all of us need places where we are known and belong.

People with intellectual disabilities are at the heart of our community - not simply as people receiving support, but as friends, neighbours, leaders, teachers, and contributors. Their presence and gifts help shape who we are and continually invite us to see one another differently.

Life Together

At L’Arche, good support matters. So does relationship. Life together happens in ordinary places and ordinary moments: around a dinner table, on a drive into town, at Pines Social Club, during a celebration at Red Leaf Lodge, working through a difficult day, or laughing together over something completely unexpected.

We support people to make choices, pursue goals, develop their gifts, build relationships, and participate fully in the life around them. But L’Arche is more than the support we provide. It is something we create together.

Dignity. Belonging. Contribution.

These ideas are at the heart of how we understand life together.

Dignity means recognizing the value of every person - not because of what they can accomplish, but simply because they are human.

Belonging means more than being included. It means being known, having relationships that matter, and knowing your presence makes a difference.

Contribution means recognizing that everyone has something to offer. People flourish when they have opportunities not only to receive, but to give, participate, influence, create, and lead.

These convictions shape the way we support people, the way we work together, and the kind of community we hope to build.

Rooted in the Ottawa Valley

L’Arche Arnprior is deeply connected to Arnprior, McNab/Braeside, and the surrounding Ottawa Valley. Our relationships extend far beyond our homes and programs. They include families, employees, volunteers, neighbours, businesses, community partners, donors, and friends.

You will find us in our homes and at Pines Social Club, gathering at Red Leaf Lodge, participating in local events, visiting familiar places around town, volunteering, working, creating, celebrating, and simply sharing everyday life.

We don’t want L’Arche to be a community apart from the world around us. We want to help build a community where everyone belongs.

Part of Something Bigger

L’Arche Arnprior is part of L’Arche Canada and an international federation of L’Arche communities around the world. Each community is shaped by its own people, culture, and place, while sharing a commitment to the dignity of people with intellectual disabilities and the transformative possibilities of relationship and belonging.

Here in the Ottawa Valley, we continue to discover what that commitment asks of us today - and what becomes possible when we make room for one another.