Coordinator, Restorative City Vancouver

Evelyn has 30 years of international experience. She has a Ph.D. in criminology, and specializes in communication, peacemaking, restorative justice, and conscious governance.

Evelyn has taught and led projects in diverse settings, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Caribbean, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mozambique, Nepal, South Africa, UK and USA. Evelyn is a published author and has presented at many national and international forums, including the United Nations.

She is a sought after facilitator, trainer, coach and speaker.

Evelyn is a proud mom of her son. When not working, you will find her immersed in photography, nature and the ocean.

Barry is a retired judge, internationally respected leader in multiparty conflict resolution, and pioneer in using peacemaking circles over the past 40 years.

Barry’s work focuses on resolving disputes and consensus-building in both the public and private sector. He has worked as a lawyer, mediator, facilitator, policy analyst, chief land claims negotiator, and judge. He played a leading role in shaping environmental law in the 1970s in Canada. He is co-author of Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community (2003).
It’s not possible to list all his contributions!

Barry and Evelyn co-facilitate advanced courses. They are planning a retreat for facilitators and co-authoring a book.

We are honoured to learn from and work with Barry!

Norm Leech is a Restorative Collective Vancouver founding member, Co-Chair of Metro Vancouver Aboriginal Executive Council and former Executive Director, Vancouver Aboriginal Community Policing Centre.  Norm grew up in East Vancouver, with ancestry in the T’it’q’et community of the St’at’imc nation. 

Norm is an advocate for urban Indigenous peoples and speaks on the Indigenous experience and trauma from colonization drawing on his experiences as a recovering alcoholic/ addict, inter-generational survivor, and spiritual explorer.  He offers land-based, body-centred, cultural approaches that provide inspirations for modern restorative practices.

As a trained facilitator for human rights and Restorative Justice, Norm facilitates the Indigenous cultural sessions for Police Academy and Sheriffs Academy at the Justice Institute.

Norm is the current ED of Frog Hollow Neighbourhood House and serves on various boards and committees including; MVAEC, AFDS, VPD IAC, and the DTES CLT.

Mechuskosis is a Cree Elder from Alberta, Canada. He moved to BC and works as an Indigenous Elder in prisons for Corrections Canada.

After many years of teachings and trainings with his Elders, Mechuskosis established All My Relations Teachings in the early 1990s. He has led many ceremonies and talking and healing circles. Mechuskosis offers teachings to bring healing, personal development, and an environmental consciousness that we are all related and created equal in the eyes of Creator. He brings a unique blend of Aboriginal and Eastern traditions to his teachings.

Mechuskosis and Evelyn co-facilitate decolonization, reconciliation, medicine wheel and peace circles workshops.

They met at sundance, and continue to be sundancers and in ceremony together.

Katrina was raised and currently lives as a settler on the ancestral and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, otherwise referred to as East Vancouver.

Her life and work have been guided by a commitment to justice, equity, and peacebuilding, and these core values led to a legal career focused on serving the community and cultivating change. Now, Katrina works as a facilitator, restorative justice practitioner, and mediator and is passionate about Peace Circles as a powerful way to create open, inclusive, and collaborative dialogue.

Katrina’s life outside of work profoundly shapes who she is, including her deep connection to nature and beloved community of family and friends.

Kayah George (she/they) is a young Indigenous leader, activist, filmmaker and student. She carries the teachings of her Tulalip and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Kayah has traveled globally advocating for environmental and Indigenous rights, most notably speaking on a panel in Geneva, Switzerland at the United Nations Declaration for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She has been on the frontlines fighting against the Trans Mountain pipeline for more than half of her life.

Her work has been recognized in various publications. Recently, she was featured on the cover of Globe and Mail where she put a spotlight on the cultural connections her peoples have with Orca whales.

Kayah will be sharing her short film entitled ‘Our Grandmother the Inlet’, about the intrinsic connection Tsleil-Waututh people have to the ‘Burrard’ Inlet.

She is currently doing an environmental research internship with Clear Seas Centre for Responsible Marine Shipping and is studying sociology and linguistics at Simon Fraser University.

Kayah is the lead for an Indigenous initiative being launched as part of Vancouver becoming a Restorative City.

Erin has over 10 years of people, organization and project management experience and 20 years facilitating environmental education and inclusivity work. She is a queer, neurodivergent (dyslexic) settler of Celtic ancestry who has grown up on and fallen in love with xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, sel̓íl̓witulh, and sḵwx̱wú7mesh lands and waters.

Erin continues to learn how to decolonize work and co-create environments and programs that support individual, collective and organizational thriving. She has done this through management roles, as a non-profit Executive Director, Board member, strategic advisor and intentional collaborator. Erin recently trained in restorative justice facilitation and collaborative conflict resolution.

In her spare time, she can be found canoeing rivers, scaling mountains or participating in cultural gatherings.

Tina is a multidisciplinary artist, storyteller, writer and producer. She works with narrative, storytelling and a spirit of play as vehicles for human connection, restorative experiences rooted in deep listening, relational leadership, and reconciliation.

As the Managing Director of PowHERhouse, Tina champions relational changemakers and social impacters guided by Indigenous and ancestral wisdom.

Zoe is a communications practitioner, dedicated to cultivating safe spaces for truth-based, open communication to grow. As a relational leader with PowHERhouse, and producer of Gather for Her, she works to create more safety in social media and communications through open hearted media and messaging that fosters relationships rather than just followers.

Zoe approaches communication through a lens of restorative practices. She believes that through the authentic and brave expression of individuals and organizations and holding space for stories that push beyond limiting societal stereotypes and compartmentalized thinking we will see the narrative shift to a place of greater inclusion, transparency, and authentic comfort for any living being.

Zoe has over seven years of experience facilitating individual and organizational expression within the constructs of social media, web design, graphic design, digital storytelling, producing, writing, and video editing, with roots in facilitating personal expression and story through visual arts.

She is grateful to enjoy and learn from the beautiful landscape of Vancouver Island with her family, specifically the unceded and ancestral territory of the Xwsepesum and Lekwungen families and ancestors, where she lives as an uninvited guest. One of Zoe’s favourite things is to spend time with Ella & Evan, her two kids, who are her most treasured teachers – if they can do this on the beach, even better!