Restorative Justice Week 2024 – Inspiring Collaboration | Igniting Social Change
Did you know November 17 to 24 marks Restorative Justice Week in BC? Across the nation and internationally, this annual event raises awareness of restorative justice programs, principles and practices. Restorative Justice Week also provides an opportunity to recognise restorative justice practitioners and honour those who have been harmed or have harmed and have engaged in restorative justice.
Victim participation is central to restorative justice initiatives. As police-based victim services professionals, being knowledgeable of restorative justice is an important part of our role in ensuring victims’ rights are respected. The Canadian Victims Bill of Rights articulates that victims have the right to information about restorative justice. Being knowledgeable of restorative justice ensures victims are fully informed and provided with victim centric support throughout a restorative justice process.
One of the most straightforward ways to describe restorative justice is as an alternative or supplement to the traditional criminal justice system. Our current system, often responding to harm done in relationships or crimes, asks three questions: (1) What law was broken?, (2) Who broke it?, and (3) What punishment is warranted? Restorative justice asks different questions, focusing on strengthening relationships between individuals and ties to one another in their communities. It asks us: Who was harmed? What are the needs and responsibilities of all affected? How do the parties together address needs and repair harm?
Restorative justice seeks to repair the harm caused by crime and violence by facilitating a process that addresses victims’ needs and holds offenders meaningfully accountable for their actions.
In BC, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General provides funding to Community Accountability Programs and Indigenous Justice Programs across all regions of the province. The RCMP has a long history of supporting restorative justice and in many communities facilitates various restorative justice processes. Within the framework of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Ministry of Children and Family Development offers restorative justice programs for youth through the Youth Justice Conferencing program. Correctional Services of Canada offers the Restorative Opportunities Program, delivered by Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives, for victims who are harmed by a federally sentenced offender.
The modern application of restorative justice in Canada dates back to 1974, in the community of Kitchener-Waterloo, but restorative justice has traditionally been deeply rooted across the history of global Indigenous communities. These Indigenous peacemaking practices are inseparable from the restorative healing practices that are lived every day in connection with oneself, one’s community, and nature according to Indigenous traditions and way of life.
Restorative justice aligns with the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, as well as the Calls for Justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
Additional Resources:
- Restorative Justice – An Overview (Province of BC)
- Province of BC Community Accountability Programs and Indigenous Justice Programs
- Correctional Service of Canada Restorative Justice (Restorative Opportunities Program – federally sentenced offenders)
- Principles and Guidelines for Restorative Justice Practice in Criminal Matters (Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat)
- Restorative Justice – Key Elements of Success (Canadian Intergovernmental Conference Secretariat)
- A Report on the Relationship between Restorative Justice and Indigenous Traditions in Canada (Justice Canada)
With respect and gratitude,
The PVSBC Team