- Restorative Justice Week
- Working with restorative justice programs
- Resources
Restorative Justice Week
The origins of RJ week can be traced to England where in 1975, prison chaplaincies created one day to remember incarcerated men and women, “Prisoner’s Sunday”. The event was adopted in Canada and other countries, and 20 years later the day was extended to a week, “Prisoner’s Week”.
The first national gathering was hosted by Correctional Service Canada in 1995 in Ottawa and in 1996, there was a renaming and expansion of prisoner’s week to ”Restorative Justice Week: Community, Victims, and Prisoners”; shortened to ‘Restorative Justice Week’. It’s been celebrated yearly in Canada ever since during the third week of November.
It has recently grown to become International Restorative Justice Week to acknowledge and expand restorative practices in a variety of settings.
This year RJ Week is 17-24 November, 2019.
We attended the Canadian National Restorative Justice Symposium in Banff, Alberta. What a gift to have such rich exchanges with friends and colleagues. A special acknowledgment of the Brazilian delegation; what a joyful reunion with judges we worked with in Brazil. Congratulating the organizers, Alberta Restorative Justice Association.
Just announced: next year the Canadian national gathering will be in British Columbia.
See the resource section below and our social media – Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram – for more (#RJWeek).
Dr. Evelyn Zellerer was asked to define Restorative Justice:
Working with Restorative Justice Programs
Highlighting 3 of our trainings this year with restorative justice programs in British Columbia, Canada:
- South Okanagan Similkameen Restorative Justice Program
- Prince George RCMP Restorative Justice Program
- Restorative Justice Salt Spring Island
South Okanagan Similkameen Restorative Justice Program
We supported the South Okanagan Similkameen Restorative Justice Program in obtaining funding from the provincial Civil Forfeiture grant program. They would like to expand their services to include peace circles.
Dr. Evelyn Zellerer facilitated the second level, advanced Peace Circles training in Penticton, BC. We are grateful for our host, Sharon Siluch, the Community Policing Coordinator, and all participants for their fantastic engagement and enthusiasm.
Dr Evelyn Zellerer reflects after training in the beautiful Okanagan:
Prince George RCMP Restorative Justice Program
Much gratitude to the participants as well as our host, Linda Parker, Community Policing & Restorative Justice Coordinator, for such an inspirational training with Dr. Evelyn Zellerer.
Thanking the Prince George RCMP for providing the venue and supporting the expansion of their restorative justice program.
A special acknowledgement of Cst. Jody Chamberlain for showing what is possible when more humanity is incorporated into policing. Thank you for getting how bad-ass this work really is!
In this short video, “Rivers of Connection”, Dr. Evelyn Zellerer reflects after the training that creating peace really is warriors work:
Restorative Justice Salt Spring Island
Thank you Darlene Gage and Restorative Justice Salt Spring Island for the invitation to facilitate advanced training. Dr. Evelyn Zellerer has deep gratitude for being in Circle with such amazing volunteers, with two participants joining us from Saanich Peninsula Restorative Justice.
It was so fun and beautiful to facilitate in a yurt with a cozy fire!
We thank the staff and volunteers of all restorative justice programs for contributing so generously to your communities.
Resources
There is an exciting explosion of restorative justice around the world. Some resources from our colleagues to check out:
- Free resource guide: “Serving Crime Victims Through Restorative Justice”, by our wonderful colleagues Catherine Bargen, Alan Edwards, Matthew Hartman, Jennifer Haslett, Aaron Lyons. Published by the Alberta Restorative Justice Association (ARJA), with support of the Department of Justice Canada.
- A fantastic restorative justice library and database of over 12,000 abstracts by the Centre for Justice & Reconciliation, Prison Fellowship International
- The European Forum for Restorative Justice. Their 11th International European Forum for Restorative Justice Conference will be on the island of Sardinia, Italy 25-27 June, 2020
- Courses, projects and resources like an internet journal available from UK-based RJ4Alll International Institute
- Restorative Practices International
- National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (USA), hosts a bi-annual conference; the next one is 2021 in Chicago
- Ongoing webinars & discussions with host Molly Rowan Leach, based in the USA: Restorative Justice on The Rise
- Asia Pacific Forum for Restorative Justice
- Nepal Forum for Restorative Justice organizes the Third Nepal Conference on Restorative Justice, Kathmandu, 22-24 November, 2019
And there’s much more!
Get to know and support your local restorative initiatives and programs. If there aren’t any, perhaps you could contribute to creating something!
Years in the making and now a reality – the launch of Restorative Justice Association of British Columbia.
Thank you everyone who made this possible. We are proud that Dr Evelyn Zellerer was a volunteer on the steering committee that, over three years, birthed this new association.
The inaugural AGM unveiled a beautiful new logo and elected a fantastic new Board.
Let us know what you are creating and if we can be of service.