‘Communities are not at the periphery, rather they are at the centre of Restorative Justice in BC’: an inquiry into the praxis of Restorative Justice in British Columbia, Canada

ABSTRACT

There has been ebbs and flows, since 1982, with the growth of Restorative Justice (RJ) practices in British Columbia (BC), Canada. To date there are more than seventy plus organizations that offers RJ practices in BC. Using in-depth key informant interviews, along with surveys, this research seeks to understand the genesis and praxis of RJ in BC. This study finds that the local community’s involvement was of paramount importance to the growth of restorative justice. Key findings include the contribution of Community Justice Initiative Langley, Community Accountability Programs and SFU’s Centre for Restorative Justice. A number of emergent themes are discussed in the paper that include the role of the written RJ script, and standardization. The findings are significant for a number of reasons, first of all, it reveals the role of community, government and university collaboration. Secondly, emergent themes discussed in this paper illustrate the tensions within RJ praxis in BC where learning and growth are creating new understanding and insight. A detailed analysis on standardization debate and scripted vs non-scripted model of RJ are also discussed. This paper concludes that future research needs to focus on the relationship between restorative justice and Indigenous justice in BC.

KEYWORDS:

• Restorative Justice
• british Columbia
• scripted and non-script based RJ practices
• standardization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Muhammad Asadullah

Dr. Muhammad Asadullah is an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina's Department of Justice Studies. Prior to joining UofR, he taught at Simon Fraser University, the University of the Fraser Valley, and Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He completed his PhD as well as a Masters in Criminology from Simon Fraser University, Canada. He also holds a Masters in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, USA. He is the recipient of multiple awards and scholarships, including Neekaneewak Indigenous Leadership Awards, Contemplative Social Justice Scholar Award, ACJS Doctoral Fellowship Award, C.D. Nelson Memorial Award, Liz Elliott Memorial Graduate Scholarship, President's PhD Scholarship, Provost Prize of Distinction, and Law Foundation Scholarship in Restorative Justice. His research interests include decolonization, restorative justice, conflict resolution, village courts, peacemaking criminology, indigenous justice and contemplative justice.

Brenda Morrison

Dr. Brenda Morrison is the Director of the Centre for Restorative Justice and an Associate Professor in the School of Criminology. She is a social psychologist with teaching, research and field experience in outdoor education, governance and justice. She completed her PhD at the Australian National University. Following her PhD, she worked at a Post-Doc with the Regulatory Institutions Network, at the Centre for Restorative Justice. For three years she led a juvenile justice research and development project at the University of Pennsylvania in partnership with a range of justice, human services and school-based institutions. Internationally, she has presented papers at the House of Lords and UNESCO. Nationally, she is a research partner with PREVNet (Promoting Relationships Eliminating Violence Network), Children’s Rights Academic Network and serves on the Board of Smart Justice Canada. She has also served on justice reform committees for the Ministry of Justice. In British Columbia, she has served on the Ministry of Justice Performance Review Committee, and the working group summits for a Justice System for the 21st Century. In her home community, she is an active board member for the North Shore Restorative Justice Society.