How 3 parents built a Dieppe cafe that serves more than just coffee

For someone who works in a cafe, Sophie Arsenault doesn't particularly enjoy indulging in what she serves.

"I hate coffee," she said with a laugh. "But the truth is, coffee is the [most] amazing thing ever for me."

Arsenault loves her job, but finding meaningful work hasn't been easy for the 22-year-old, said her dad Eric Arsenault.

"It's extremely limited," he said. When Eric Arsenault found out about Café Inclusio — a cafe in Dieppe, N.B., that employs young adults with disabilities — he couldn't pass up the opportunity. 

"It's fantastic. It really is, because when you provide people with that opportunity to be able to be amongst everybody and.be respected, be included,  it's a very empowering feeling for the person," he said.

"And as a parent, it just warms your heart to be able to see them play a role in in society."

Café Inclusio is the product of parent power: three parents from Moncton and neighbouring Dieppe who combined forces to tackle their shared challenge of helping their children with disabilities find their way into the working world.

Pierre Arsenault recalls the chilly February night in 2017 when he and his wife Suzanne Boudreau met up with their old friend, Nathalie Perron, at a Starbucks. Each of the families had a teenaged son with disabilities, and Perron had an idea.

"That's where it all started. We even came up with the name Café Inclusio that night. Because our sons, at that point, were close to finishing school. And we knew that after school, there was nothing," said Arsenault.

The three gradually turned it into a reality, with their sons Joël Arsenault and Samuel DeGarie operating a pop-up shop making and selling coffee, and earning some money.

With few outside resources and lots of pandemic challenges, the parents forged ahead with their business plan and opened their bricks-and-mortar location in the summer of 2022.

They quickly added six other employees, and have a waiting list of others looking for work.

"It was always the dream to include other people — that was that was the dream. I mean, the mission was to create a world where inclusion is possible for everyone," said Suzanne Boudreau.

Boudreau, Perron and Arsenault are helping create that world, because the current outlook for after school isn't rosy, despite efforts to prepare eventual high school graduates.