Solidarity : Haiti

L'Arche was the first international organization to draw the world's attention to the situation of people living with intellectual disabilities in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

We have all been captivated by the stories and the images that we see on our televisions about the effect of the earthquake on Haiti. As we write this letter, Isabelle Robert is in Carrefour visiting the community and giving support on behalf of us all.

Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has donated to L’Arche Haiti through the L’Arche Canada Foundation. These gifts will ensure that this support is maintained. 

Photo : Wayne Johnson

Help is coming from a variety of sources. We would like to thank Wayne Johnson and the Haiti Relief Team for ensuring that the community has some badly needed supplies. Maria Elvira Santa Cruz, the coordinator for L’Arche in Latin America, organized Isabelle’s transportation to the community from Santo Domingo, D.R.

If you wish to follow the story of the community and Haiti, personally and as communities, we encourage you to read Jonathan Boulet-Groulx’s blog Mwen pa fou. This blog, through words and images, shows the devastation as well as signs of hope that are evident. Put in link

A small group chaired by Gabrielle Beaulieu, the regional coordinator for Québec, is following the situation of the community closely through regular phone calls. Isabelle tries to maintain regular contact which is not easy to do. This ensures that we will be able to respond wisely to the needs as they arise. Today, one focus is looking for tents.

Soon Haiti will no longer be the top story on the news; the need for prayer and financial support will continue. We ask that all members of L’Arche Canada continue to carry this community and country in the ways that we can.

National Reflecting Group (NRG)

Click here to read or download the report (PDF)

The National Reflecting Group for the L’Arche International process on Commitment & Belonging met at L’Arche Daybreak on January 12 &13th. It was so good to have this reflection meeting in a community and we are very grateful to the Daybreak community and especially Mary Bastedo at the Cedars for welcoming and hosting us and to Lorenzo Sforza-Cesarini for cooking for us.

Along with us, the delegates from the regions were:

Western Canada:	Peggy Loescher and Landys Klyne
Ontario:	Toni Urbanski and Lynn Godfrey
Québec :	Isabelle Robert and Elisabeth Richard
Atlantic:	Rosaire Blais

These people would be happy to be an ongoing support to the communities in their regions. We were also very fortunate to have an experienced person in Peggy Keaney who was the facilitator for this national group process.

We realize that a number of communities did not have the opportunity to complete yet this first phase of the process for various reasons. We also appreciate that there was some confusion about all the materials that were sent to each community. So we simply ask that you do the best you can to complete phase one. Peggy Keaney will send out some information before the beginning of phase two to help clarify the materials for that phase.

We are happy to share with you the attached report that Peggy sent to L’Arche International giving the fruits of our national reflection group over our two days together, which were made richer by the input we had from the 10 reports submitted from various local communities. Thank you for your contribution to this first stage of the process.

The International committee met in Trosly January 24-29th to synthesize the more than 60 reports from around the world and to prepare the materials for the second stage, which starts in April 2010 and will last until the end of September. Our National Reflecting Group will meet again at Daybreak on October 13 & 14th. Please keep this process in your prayers.

You may also want to check out the international website for this process at:

http://www.larcheinternationale.org/cb/

Beth Porter Education Resources

Report on Educational Initiatives and Publications:  

The I Belong! / J'ai des amis! project:

We have a new 15-month project to construct a highly accessible, interactive, bilingual on-line resource and a handbook that will help young people with intellectual disabilities, and their teachers and family members in developing and keeping friends and social contacts. Our priority has been getting the research component of this project underway. We are looking for young people who have finished school recently, and teachers involved in transition planning, to interview. If you could conduct an interview or have suggestions we would be glad to receive them. Jessica Vorstermans is working with us on this aspect of the project until the end of March. This project is supported by the Office of Disability Issues of the Canadian government. Please send suggestions to education@larche.ca 

Another focus has been to promote awareness among other provincial Ministries of Education about the new Learn Alberta (Alberta Ministry of Education) online resource on Jean Vanier.  Please pass this information on to educators who may be interested. The resource is designed for high school social studies or civics but could be used by religion (ethics) and guidance or leadership teachers. 

We are starting work on the spring L’Arche Canada Foundation impact bulletin. We want to get it to translation by February 20th. 

 An “Ask”: We badly need L’Arche e-stories from communities across the country. These are one or two paragraphs about a touching or humorous moment with someone in L’Arche. The people who contribute stories don’t need to be great writers. We can edit them or even write the story for you if you want. (You can call me at 905-770-7696 ext. 108 or write eporter@larche.ca if you have a story.) Thanks.

L'Arche Canada-Communications  

Over the past few weeks, the Communications team has been busy working to support the L’Arche Canada Foundation’s fundraising efforts for Haiti. In addition, in collaboration with L’Arche International, the team has been working on a mobilization strategy in support of Haiti. Coordinators and Community Leaders will be briefed on the strategy this week.

On other fronts, the team is deeply involved in the web project on aging. Currently, filming for this project is underway in the communities of Beloeil, Toronto, and Ottawa. In addition, an improved and simplified version of the online Meeting Ground is being prepared and, in terms of planning, a great deal of attention is being given to the new Action Plan that begins in April of this year.

Communication Audit

The focus of our mandate for these two years is to: Strengthen the collaboration between L’Arche Canada, its regions and communities. Clear and effective communication is one way to accomplish this.  To this end, we have asked for a communication audit to be done. This will include a interviewing twenty people selected by us and the regional coordinators, developing recommendations, setting priorities and finally writing an action plan for the Communications team for the next two years. There will also be the opportunity to give your input on the Meeting Ground in the coming weeks.

Danielle Thibeault, HR Director

Human Resources:

The following points have been the focus in January:

• Compilation of the evaluations of the Human Resources Workshop November 2009; Evaluation and report of the first national event “I am inviting you” that took place on December 3rd 2009, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Ten communities in Canada took part in this event;

• Compilation of statistics on Live-In House Assistants for the summer and fall 2009. The results and findings will soon be shared with communities. For the first time in years the number of vacancies for the Live-In Assistant position dropped significantly in each region. Ontario Region saw 0% vacancies over the summer 2009 due to a surplus of summer Assistants and the Atlantic Region saw also 0% vacancies in the Fall 2009;

• Development of the Human Resources Action Plan of L’Arche Canada for the year 2010-2011

Work by Peggy Keaney

Compensation Policy

• Implementation of the ICAT has begun
• Annual reporting form to be distributed by end of January
• Consultation and refinement of implementation of positions in Level 6 is taking place

Retirement Needs 

• A survey is being prepared to capture current data of members and employees that are or will be retiring in the next few years
• Ongoing work to develop a process/plan for obtaining resources to supplement those in need

---

By-Laws and Governance

At our General Assembly in November, we approved new By-Laws. We are happy to announce that Industry Canada has approved them. We now have eighteen months to put these into place. The two incorporated regions are studying the implications of these new by-laws for them. There are many questions which need to be resolved as we put these by-laws into place. We have begun to gather them so that we can work through them together.

The February board meeting will include a one day workshop with Roland Lemay and Mel Gill to help the board think through and develop the policies necessary for our new structures. This includes further clarifying the role of the National Council.
From our last letter, I would like to correct a mistake I made by stating that Yvette Légaré has been the board president of the AAQ for three years. In fact, she has been the president since 2003!

Guillaume Richard Office Manager

L’Arche Canada Office

• Information about the Leadership Training event is available on the Meeting Ground, in the Events section. There are still a couple of places available.

• We encourage you to check the updated calendar of Zone activities published in the Meeting Ground.

• Please note that it takes 14 days for the office to process your invoices and reimbursement claims.
• We are currently experiencing some technical difficulties in relation to the archives. If you are unable to find or download a document that is on the L’Arche Canada web site, please contact the office by e-mail at office@larche.ca

Guillaume Richard, Office Manager, grichard@larche.ca

Solidarity: 

We would like to thank the communities for their financial support of the Solidarity Program. The communities have so far raised a total of $54,323. The goal for 2009-2010 is $113,500.

These amounts do not include emergency funds raised for L’Arche Haiti, more than $40,000. up until now.

Nathan Ball Executive Director

L’Arche Canada Foundation

The main focus for December and early January was to manage our Christmas appeal. We are pleased that for the first time our annual revenue from direct mail has exceeded $400,000.

• Time has been spent planning for the next 12 months.
• We have set up meetings with two prospective Foundation board members.
• We have had two meetings to see how we can better coordinate the work of the L’Arche Canada Foundation with the work of the Quebec Foundation.
• We continue to follow-up with people who attended our two fundraising dinners in late October.
• We have reached out to our donor base – online and through print – with an invitation to support the needs of L’Arche in Haiti. 

 
L’Arche Canada Work Plan

Two weeks ago, Joe and I invited a small group to work with us to develop a work plan for the coming two years as well as to imagine where L’Arche Canada should be four years from now.

We worked through the points of the mandate, with particular focus on the first point of the mandate: Strengthen the collaboration between L’Arche Canada, its regions and communities. In the next couple of weeks, Joe and I will set priorities and develop a work plan that will go to the Coordinators Group for their review and support and then to the Board.

Our thanks to John Guido, Landys Klyne, Amy Demoulin, Perrine D’Arc, Nathan Ball and Hortense de Villers as translator for setting aside two days to work with us in this.
We gratefully acknowledge the hospitality of Amy Demoulin and L’Arche Toronto and the Egans in making this meeting possible.

The evening that we were together, we had the privilege to hear Dr. James Orbinksi speak on his book, An Imperfect Offering. Dr. Orbinski was the head of Doctors without Borders when they won the Nobel Peace Prize. His words provided inspiration and challenge as we thought about our mission as L’Arche in Canada. Do the right thing is the basic principle on which he has based his life.

News from Zoël Breau:

Maxi, Andres, Zoël & Annick

Recently, we have heard from Zoël in Argentina. He is connected to the community in Buenos Aires and is studying Spanish. He sounds very happy with his choice of a sabbatical.

Click here to learn about his life, his new friends  in the community of El Arca del Argentina, his progress in the Spanish language and in football.  

 Zoel email : zoelbreau@mac.com

Conclusion

Can we reasonably have a dream of a world where people whatever their race, religion, culture, abilities or disabilities, whatever their education or economic situation, whatever their age or gender can find a place and reveal their gifts?

Jean Vanier

Dare we, as members of L’Arche Canada, carry and nurture this dream in our hearts, minds, spirits?

Do we further the realization of this dream through our actions?

At the General Assembly, we wholeheartedly affirmed that we wanted to build together L’Arche in Canada. The thrill of the General Assembly has passed; now we have to get down to work. This is not a dream to carry alone. We need each other to remind, to encourage and challenge us to be faithful to this dream, our mission.

Joe Egan and Hollee Card