Award honors restorative justice ‘pioneer’
Liz Elliott, 778.782.4730; eelliott@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.4323; marianne_meadahl@sfu.ca
Simon Fraser University associate professor Liz Elliott is being honored by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) for her work as “a driving force” behind the country’s restorative justice movement.
Elliott, of SFU’s School of Criminology, received the 2010 Ron Wiebe Restorative Justice Award in Regina on Nov. 15, at a symposium marking National Restorative Justice Week.
The award recognizes a “passion for and dedication to restorative justice,” which is an approach to dealing with criminal acts that places emphasis on the wrong done to a person and to the community, and on restoring those relationships.
Elliott co-founded SFU’s Centre for Restorative Justice and established its first restorative justice course, now taught at all three campuses. She has spent more than three decades teaching, researching and providing outreach to prisons.
Well-known in corrections circles for her outreach, she contributes to numerous community organizations and has developed strong ties between those groups and SFU.
In addition, Elliott coordinates and participates on a host of panels, dialogues and workshops and tirelessly promotes the events among her students and the wider community.
“This is a richly deserved and long overdue award,” says SFU School of Criminology colleague Robert Gordon. “With all due respect to the other RJ luminaries, I cannot think of a more deserving recipient at this time."
The award recognizes Canadians who have demonstrated, through their work or lifestyle, ways of transforming human relationships by promoting communication and healing between people in conflict, including victims, offenders, colleagues, families or neighbours.
It is named after the late Ron Wiebe, a former Correctional Service Canada warden at B.C.’s Ferndale and Elbow Lake Institutions, for his inspiration and commitment to restorative justice.
Elliott, who was in Regina for the National Symposium on Restorative Justice. is back in town today and will be part of a panel speaking on Restorative Justice: Reflections of the Past, Present and Future, at Douglas College on Nov. 17 from 3:30 – 6:30 p.m. Pierre Allard, the former assistant commissioner, community engagement, for the CSC, is the keynote speaker.
The event is part of the Ting Forum on Justice Policy Lecture and Dialogue Series co-sponsored by SFU, Douglas College and the CSC.