L'Arche

L'Arche communities are associations that welcome adults with intellectual disabilities.

L'Arche was founded by Canadian Jean Vanier in 1964, in Trosly-Breuil in the Oise department. In 2024, L'Arche is present in 38 countries. The L'Arche International Federation brings together 154 communities (39 in France, 30 in Canada) and over 10,000 members. 1,350 people with disabilities live or work in one of L'Arche's homes in France.

Through its activities, L'Arche's mission is to raise awareness of the contribution of people with intellectual disabilities to society, through shared daily life within communities, and to enable them to take their rightful place in society. Each community brings together accommodation facilities (the "foyers") and workplaces (day care, assisted employment services, etc.).

Various complaints of sexual abuse against Thomas Philippe, Jean Vanier's mentor and the community's accompanying priest, led L'Arche to commission an independent investigation, made public in January 2023. This concluded that Jean Vanier was aware of his mentor's actions and revealed that he himself had committed sexual abuse against at least twenty-five non-disabled women between 1970 and 2005, perpetuating his mentor's "mystico-sexual" beliefs and practices within a sectarian core, in a "continuum of confusion, control, and abuse." The publication of this report led L'Arche's leadership to "revisit the circumstances of its historical foundation."