VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ASSOCIATION
VIRRJA@ymail.com
www.members.shaw.ca/virrja
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
&
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE CONFERENCE
The Vancouver Island Restorative Justice Association invites you and your members to
attend their 3rd Annual General Meeting and conference. A short business meeting will be
held to meet society formalities. Guest speakers have been invited to provide information
and guidance regarding restorative practices which would be of benefit to all Vancouver
Island restorative justice programs. We hope you will find them interesting and beneficial.
When:
Saturday, October 27th, 2012
Time:
9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Where:
The Native Son’s Hall – Lower Level
360 Cliffe Avenue, COURTENAY, BC (Map attached)
Cost:
$25 per person – Lunch onsite, included in registration fee
Election of 5 positions – nominations are now being taken for:
President; Vice President; Secretary; Treasurer; & Director at Large
Please submit your nomination(s) to: virrja@ymail.com
Registration cut-off date: October 19th.
AGENDA
Morning Session:
9:30
REGISTRATION & REFRESHMENTS
10:00
WELCOME – Bruce Curtis, President VIRRJA Bruce serves as Chief Administrator of the Comox Valley RJ
programme, a New Zealand style conferencing model, which also includes peace-making circles, and other
styles as required by the file’s circumstances. He is also an active organizer of a series of inter-faith and arts
engagement activities and community dialogues to counter racism, homophobia and hate crime in the
community. He has studied Zoology, History, Theology, Educational Theory, Labour Relations, Restorative
Justice, Dialogue Facilitation, and Ritual Studies at UBC, Dalhousie, SFU, U of Nebraska, Baruch College New
York, and Vancouver School of Theology. He also owned and operated a Vancouver Island summer resort for
20 years and owns a bookstore in Courtenay. He and his wife Evelyn Gillespie have three fine adult children
with whom they are intensely pleased.
10:10
PUTTING RESTORATIVE JUSTICE VALUES INTO PRACTICE (Breakout Groups)
Moderator: Gail Jewsbury has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Victoria and a certificate in
Mediation from the Justice Institute of BC, as well as extensive training in dispute resolution. Gail has worked
in the restorative justice field for the last five years and has recently helped found the Warmland Restorative
Justice Society to provide services in the Cowichan Valley.
This is an interactive session where each breakout group will discuss how to deal with the challenges
presented in a scenario; identifying strategies for dealing with any conflict as well as the restorative values
these approaches exemplify.
Questions to consider: Do you as a practitioner apply these values to your work? Does your organization
embed these values in its work? If not, how can you ensure that this becomes part of its philosophy and
practice?
11:10
THE VALUE OF EVALUATION
Moderators: Gillian Lindquist & Shanna Grant-Warmald
Gillian Lindquist holds certificates in Restorative Justice and in Conflict Management from the Alberta
Arbitration and Mediation Society and a Bachelor of Arts in Justice Studies from Royal Roads University. Gillian
has extensive experience working in community-based and collaborative methods of conflict management and
dispute resolution. She has worked with a variety of community-based agencies including the Mediation and
Restorative Justice Centre, Justice Canada's Civil Claims Mediation Program, Strathcona Community Mediation
and Catholic Social Services Parent-Teen Mediation Program. She is currently the Program Coordinator at
Victoria Restorative Justice Society.
Shanna Grant-Warmald holds a diploma in Criminal Justice from Camosun College, a Bachelor of Arts Degree
in Justice Studies from Royal Roads University and a Masters of Comparative Criminology and Criminal Justice
Degree from Bangor University. She is currently the program assistant and volunteer coordinator for the
Victoria Restorative Justice Society and also instructs police officers about restorative justice through KMc
Training Corp with Gillian.
Evaluation has become a critical issue as the restorative justice community attempts to prove its effectiveness
as a mainstream practice and obtain adequate funding for its operations. Shanna and Gillian will discuss the
fundamentals of evaluating our restorative justice practices to ensure we are meeting our participants' needs,
adhering to our values, being accountable to ourselves, our communities and our funders and improving the
quality of our services with the feedback we collect. The presenters will also discuss the value of sharing
evaluation tools with one another in order to present a unified picture of our successes and impacts on our
communities.
12:00
LUNCH on site
Afternoon Session:
1:00
VIRRJA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
President: Bruce Curtis
1:30
ADVANCING THE CAUSE OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE – Are we finally pushing on an open door?
Moderator: Christine Lowe is Administrative Crown Counsel in Colwood, B.C. She previously served as the
Deputy Regional Crown Counsel for Victoria where she worked tirelessly to promote R J to all Criminal Justice
stakeholders and to cultivate strong partnerships between Restorative Justice programs in the Victoria region
and Crown.
There is reason to be optimistic for those who are strong proponents of a justice system that includes RJ.
Many have been working tirelessly to justify RJ and to bring legitimacy to the principles that lay at the very
heart of this movement. We are now at a point in time when renewed vigour is required in order to achieve
inclusion of a Restorative Justice model in the justice system of BC. Let’s talk about how to position your
organizations for success... and avoid the pitfalls.
2:30
DIMENSIONS OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
1) Moderator: Aaron Lyons is the coordinator and lead trainer in the Training and Education Program at
Community Justice Initiatives, Langley. He also serves as a facilitator within the Victim Offender
Mediation Program for people impacted by violent criminal offences. Aaron has led restorative processes
and training seminars for youth and adults in schools and criminal justice settings in the United States,
New Zealand, Bermuda and Canada. He has a Masters Degree in Conflict Transformation, The Centre for
Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University.
RJ programs across the province have reported a desire for more opportunities to gather, collaborate
and access training to develop their knowledge and abilities. The Ministry of Justice provided a grant to
allow CAP programs to meet regionally to do this. This presentation will address the training to be held
on the Island November 5-8, 2012. Aaron will share background on Fraser Region CJI who is
administering this initiative.
(2)
Moderator: Michael Jacobson-Weston is the Coordinator for the Alert Bay Community Justice Program,
which provides legal advocacy for community members. He is responsible for supervising youth and adult
probation clients and provides facilitation in Substance Abuse Management and Respectful Relationships
courses as well as preparing Gladue Reports on Aboriginal clients.
Michael, as a founding Board member, will share information about the Canadian Restorative Justice
Consortium (CRJC) and provide an update on its current activities.
(3)
Moderator: Calvin Swustus is the Justice Coordinator of the Cowichan Tribes, where he served 18 years
as an elected official. He is a retired 22-year RCMP member and served 8 years with the Canadian
Commissionaire Corps. He was also President of the 2008 North American Indigenous Games. Calvin is
also on the Board of Cowichan Valley Crimestoppers.
This presentation will focus on the work that Calvin undertakes as Justice Coordinator of the Cowichan
Tribes
3:30
PLANNING FOR TOMORROW
Moderator: TBA
VIRRJA has been working on your behalf for three years now, through correspondence and meetings with
government officials; attending Provincial & National Conferences; being part of the Canadian Restorative
Justice Consortium and getting presenters to share their knowledge at VIRRJA meetings. Having come this far
we are looking ahead at what more we can do and how we can do it. This session is your opportunity to give
input.
4:20
CLOSING
MAP & DIRECTIONS to 360 Cliffe Avenue, COURTENAY, BC
Directions if coming from SOUTH
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Take Exit 117 to Courtenay/Comox
Merge onto Cumberland Road
LEFT onto Hwy 19A/Cliffe Avenue
Follow Cliffe Avenue into Downtown
Courtenay.
360 Cliffe Ave is on the RIGHT
VANCOUVER ISLAND REGION
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE ASSOCIATION
VIRRJA@ymail.com
www.members.shaw.ca/virrja
REGISTRATION FORM
Cut-off for registration: October 19th, 2012
…if later please contact:
Please mail registration form and cheque to:
Bruce Curtis, VIRRJA President
Community Justice Centre – Comox Valley
Ste E – 450 Eighth Street
Courtenay, BC, V9N 1N5
(bruce.curtis@shawbiz.ca)
Amount of Cheque: ________________ ($25 / person)
cheque payable to VIRRJA
DATE: __________________
Program G
Individual G
NAME: ______________________________________________________
(Program or Individual)
CONTACT INFORMATION:
E-MAIL___________________________________
PHONE: ___________________
NAMES OF MEMBERS ATTENDING (for program registrations)
Member Name:
email:
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(USE REVERSE IF MORE THAN 7 ATTENDING)