Vancouver Becoming a Restorative City
Restorative Neighbourhoods - Hastings Sunrise
Peace Circles Training Highlights
Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation
Boys and Girls Club of the Okanagan
Sea to Sky School District
Spotlight: Indigenous Justice
More Resources
Upcoming RJ Conferences
In Loving Memory of Susan Sharpe

Our current focus includes:

• Our inaugural Restorative City Framework as it goes through its final review process. We met with senior City staff again and our partners across multiple sectors. Next steps are sharing it with the four local governments. Stay tuned!
• ⁠Collaboratively advancing our first restorative neighbourhood initiative in Hastings Sunrise.
• ⁠Continuing building relations and partnerships, locally and beyond!
  Dr. Evelyn Zellerer is co-chair of the Working Group on Restorative Cities, European Forum for Restorative Cities, with representatives from 12 countries.

We are honoured to work with the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation on Vancouver Island.

Members of the nation’s Justice Department, along with invited guests from victim services and probation, gathered for training with Dr. Evelyn Zellerer at their beautiful oceanfront Tin Wis Resort in Načiks, now known as Tofino.

Grounded in culture, connection, and community-led justice, they shared stories, deepened relationships, and learned many tools to support healing and conflict resolution. Powerfully, the resort and conference centre used to be a residential school that has now been transformed and is owned and operated by this First Nation.

Another wonderful group of peace circle facilitators emerged in Kelowna! Please join us in celebrating everyone who completed Peace Circles: Fundamentals training, with Dr. Evelyn Zellerer.

Hosted by the BGC Okanagan, with special thanks to the leadership of Jenn Paquette.

Our Circle was full with care, curiosity and lots of learning as we engaged in deep dialogue.

Participants included family counsellors, youth workers, managers, program facilitators, and restorative justice volunteers. We appreciate all they shared, including such positive evaluations and feedback!

We’re thrilled to celebrate passionate educators across the Sea to Sky School District who completed the next level Peace Circles: Deeper Dive training with Dr. Evelyn Zellerer!

Three immersive days were spent diving into implementing Circles in schools, for all kinds of purposes, especially for difficult situations involving conflict and harm.

There are four main stages of the process – suitability, preparation, gathering, and follow up.

From practicing facilitation skills to the power of effective questions and the heart of relationship building, the learning was rich, real and rooted. Some comments from participants included:

Canada’s first federal Indigenous Justice Strategy (March 2025) is an important step toward addressing systemic discrimination and the overrepresentation of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples in the justice system.

The strategy provides 26 action areas and calls for transformative, trauma-informed reforms rooted in healing, wellness, and community. It supports the revitalization of Indigenous laws and legal systems, and commitments under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

The Assembly of First Nations released its companion document - National First Nations Justice Strategy (June 2025).

These also build on the work of the BC First Nations Justice Council and its BC First Nations Justice Strategy 2020. They call this a vital moment to move from words to action.
In BC, justice reform includes an Indigenous Women’s Justice Plan and establishing 15 Indigenous Justice Centres across the province, with one newly opened in Vancouver.

Peace of the Circle stands behind Indigenous leaders. We are also so grateful for our amazing colleagues and partners. We applaud these strategic advancements and calls to resource communities and create true systemic changes, while honouring Indigenous self-determination.

Moose Hide Campaign is a powerful Indigenous-led movement to end gender-based violence.

Take their self-paced, online course to learn how we are all medicine to end violence.

Also recordings of workshops from campaign day 2025 and more are available on their YouTube channel.

An online course about the essential, complex role of meaningful evaluation of restorative justice:

“Measuring What Matters in Ways that Matter - Principles, Challenges, and Methodologies of Quality Restorative Evaluation.”

Every 2 weeks, September 18-November 3, 2025, with Dr. Terence Bevington, hosted by EFRJ:  Register

“Expanding Our Public Imagination of Justice: The Role of Artists and Storytellers”, by Dr. Lindsey Pointer

This free paper explores the crucial role of narrative, artists, and storytellers in advancing the restorative justice movement.

It is grounded in theories of narrative and artistic activism and draws on specific examples of visual art, fiction, and creative non-fiction that communicate restorative justice.

We are deeply saddened to share that Susan Sharpe passed away on May 22, 2025. She was a fierce advocate for justice, a gentle presence, and a beloved friend and colleague.

Susan dedicated her life to the work of restorative justice, as a practitioner, consultant and writer, and later taught at the University of Notre Dame, where she shared her wisdom from 2010 until her retirement in 2020 when she moved to Victoria, BC.

The new Restorative Justice Collaborative Hub that Susan helped develop is: www.rjcollaborativehub.org

All of us are invited, as shared in her obituary, to continue her legacy by:
“building bridges with their adversaries and lifeboats with their loved ones.”

Thank you Susan, may you rest in peace beautiful, shining light.