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Jean Vanier

Jean Vanier was born on September 10th, 1928. When he was just 13 years’ old, during World War 2, Vanier joined the Royal Navy College. Later, he served in the British Navy and then the Royal Canadian Navy.

After resigning his commission in the Navy in 1950, Vanier taught at St. Michael's College in Toronto for a couple of years.

In the early 1960s, Vanier visited an institution for the intellectually challenged, distressed by the sight, he knew he had to do something about it. He came up with idea which was to start to an organization called L’Arche (Noah’s Ark – a symbol both of security and of renewal.) that supports people with special needs giving them a family environment, a place of belonging where they could be themselves, and an opportunity to enjoy life with others. Today, there are 146 L'Arche communities in 35 countries on all six developed continents.

Later on in his life, Jean Vanier became one of the founders of Faith and Light, which is another organization similar to L’Arche.

Faith and Light is a Christian charitable association built to help those with learning disabilities and their friends and family by meeting together for friendship, prayer, celebration and sharing. Faith and Light was started because many parents of children who had a child who was intellectually challenged had no support. Today, there are more than 1500 communities in 80 countries, on 5 continents, speaking 38 different languages for these families.

In the late 1990s, Jean Vanier came up with the idea of Intercordia, a program to educate young people to become more compassionate and to be peacemakers in our world. In 2003 Intercordia began in Canada and has made partnerships with universities and colleges across the country.

Being the founder of 2 large organizations, primarily for people with intellectual challenges, Vanier has been able to connect with each and every person that he has met, loving and accepting both their strengths or weaknesses. It is said that after Jean Vanier has met someone he always remembers their name and their story.

Through his work with the intellectually challenged he has been inspired to stand up for people with these special needs, speaking mainly about tolerance, rights and normalization.

He is also internationally recognized for his compelling vision of what it means to live a fully human life and for his social and spiritual leadership in building a compassionate society.

Jean Vanier has not only been an inspiring role model in his words, and actions, but he has also written over 25 inspiring books including; The Scandal of Service, Becoming Human, I meet Jesus and many more.

For his dedication and hard work towards people with intellectual challenges and our nation, he has been awarded numerous awards including, the Companion of the Order of Canada, the Legion of Honour (France), and many more.

Along with the awards, Jean Vanier has 3 Catholic high schools named after him. Recently Vanier has been acclaimed as “a Canadian who inspires the world” from the Maclean's Magazine and a “nation builder” which was stated by The Globe and Mail.