Restorative Collective Vancouver is celebrating and applauds the City of Vancouver!
City Council passed a motion forwarded by Councillor Michael Wiebe to:
- endorse the aspiration of Vancouver becoming a Restorative City
- create training opportunities for staff
- commit to having a Council representative participate in the Restorative Collective Vancouver as a stakeholder
- allocate funding
As the motion states,
Restorative justice is a different way to understand and achieve justice. It focuses on addressing harm, healing and relationships. It’s a relational, inclusive, flexible and participatory approach that can be complementary or an alternative to the legal system. It’s guided by values, principles and Indigenous teachings. Affected parties – those who caused harm, those harmed, their families and community – are given an opportunity to participate in determining meaningful accountability, reparation, meeting needs and a path forward.
A Restorative City is a city that expands beyond criminal justice to implement restorative values, principles and practices across multiple sectors. The basic goals of a Restorative City include healthy people, safe streets, strong communities, and a connected city that is invested in the humanity of all its citizens.
The idea of becoming a Restorative City was initiated by Restorative Collective Vancouver, an impressive team of diverse voices and wisdom with representatives from Indigenous-led organisations, many service providers, LGBTQ2S+, BC Housing, Community Corrections, Vancouver Police Department, Board of Parks & Recreation and more.
Through the coordination of Peace of the Circle, this Collective is collaborating across sectors to create a relational, holistic, decolonizing approach to conflict, harm, healing, justice and peace. We came to a consensus to become a Restorative City at the end of 2021. Which led to this motion! Thanking Councillor Michael Wiebe again for participating in our meetings and forwarding the motion.
Acknowledging we are working on the unceded, traditional territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
With funding from the Civil Forfeiture Crime Prevention and Remediation Grant program, Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General BC.
Grateful for everyone who contributes and makes this possible.
Stay in touch as our journey continues!
Coordinator: Dr. Evelyn Zellerer
Visit our webpage