The Centre for Restorative Justice is an initiative by the Simon Fraser University School of Criminology, funded by the Correctional Service of Canada. It is housed in the School of Criminology, Arts and Social Sciences Complex 1, room 10216. See the Contact Us page for hours of operation.
Restorative Justice is an old idea with a new name. Its roots can be found in Aboriginal healing traditions and the non-retaliatory responses to violence endorsed by many faith communities.
It represents a return of the simple wisdom of viewing conflict as an opportunity for a community to learn and grow. It operates on the premise that conflict, even criminal conflict, inflicts harm, and therefore individuals must accept responsibility for repairing that harm. Communities are empowered to choose their response to conflict. Victims, offenders and communities actively participate in devising mutually beneficial solutions, and implementing those solutions. Conflicts are resolved in a way that restores harmony in the community member's relationships, and allows people to continue to live together in a safer, healthy environment.
Canada has long been in the forefront of the restorative justice field. We were the first nation in the world to offer a victim/offender reconciliation program, which was initiated by the Mennonite Community in Kitchener, Ontario. We are viewed world-wide as having the experts in the field of violent-offence (post-incarceration) mediation. We have also been on the leading edge of adopting the Aboriginal concept of circle remedies, which have become an integral part of progressive programming in the federal justice system.
Over the last decade, Simon Fraser University has made significant contributions to the paradigm of restorative justice. We hope to build on our tradition of excellence in this field.
Mission Statement
The Centre for Restorative Justice, in partnership with individuals, the community, justice agencies and the University, exists to support and promote the principles and practices of restorative justice. The Centre provides education, innovative program models, training, evaluation and research through a resource centre and meeting place that facilitates outreach, promotion, dialogue and advocacy.
What does the Centre do?
In consultation and partnership with community and government agencies, the Centre for Restorative Justice provides a number of services and initiatives. Services being developed include:
* research on RJ programs and practices
* clearing house services for resources (including an online service)
* website development
* program development and evaluation services
* educational services, particularly courses, seminars and workshops on restorative justice topics
* conference development (working conferences) and the hosting of visiting speakers, scholars and researchers
* development of Aboriginal programs involving directly recruited Aboriginal graduate students in special cohort programs
* an exploration and development of feminist initiatives with respect to restorative justice and violence against women and children
Who are we?
The Centre for Restorative Justice is housed in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. Its staff is directed by a Steering Committee of professors with a professional interest in this field.
Co-Directors
Dr. Liz Elliott
Elizabeth (Liz) Elliott, M.S.W., Ph.D is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Centre for Restorative Justice at the School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. She has a history of activity in prisons and in restorative justice since 1981, first as a community-based social worker (1981-1986), then as a lecturer for the Prison Education Program in B.C. federal prisons (1988-1991) and currently as a professor. Elliott lectures, presents and publishes in the areas of restorative justice, prisons and criminological theory. She is the co-editor of the recently published New Directions in Restorative Justice (Willan, 2005), has written several book chapters and journal articles on restorative justice or prison, is a founding editor (1988) of the Journal of Prisoners on Prisons (University of Ottawa Press), and is an editorial board member for the journal, Contemporary Justice Review (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group). She is currently a board member of the Canadian prisoner aid organization the John Howard Society of the Fraser Valley (B.C.) and the West Coast Prison Justice Society (Prisoners’ Legal Services), and is a regular member of the restorative justice group FAVOUR, which meets weekly in Ferndale Institution (federal minimum security prison).
Dr. Brenda Morrison
Dr. Brenda Morrison is a Co-Director of the Centre for Restorative Justice and an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology. She is a social psychologist with field experience in outdoor education, government administration and restorative justice. A particular focus of her work relates to schools communities, and the institutions that serve these communities.
Her teaching and research interests include transformative and restorative justice, school violence and safety, conflict and cooperation, shame-management and social identity, the self and self-interest. Dr. Morrison teaches: CRIM 315 (Introduction to Restorative Justice); CRIM 442 (Restorative Justice Praxis); CRIM 417 (Safe Schools and Communities: Restorative Pedagogy and Practice).
Dr. Morrison is Co-Chair of the Safe Schools and Communities Special Interest Group of the American Education Research Association and a member of the Scientific Committee of the International Observatory of Violence in Schools. She has also chaired many panels on restorative justice and schools for the World Congress of Criminology, as well as a number of other Associations. She is a research partner with PREVNet (Promoting Relationships Eliminating Violence Network), within Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence. In British Columbia, she is a member of the working group for Social Responsibility and Collaboration Learning in Education. Locally, she is an active board member for the North Shore Restorative Justice Society.
Steering Commitee Members
There are currently five members of the Centre for Restorative Justice. Each member makes a unique contribution to the Centre through her or his experience, expertise, and interests in the field of restorative justice. If you wish to contact a member, use the e-mail listed or contact the Centre Coordinator.
David MacAlister
email dmacalis@sfu.ca
David MacAlister holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Criminology from Simon Fraser University, an LL.B. from the University of British Columbia, and an LL.M. from Queen University. He has taught courses on criminology, criminal justice and law at various institutions since 1985. His current teaching areas include Criminal Procedure and Evidence, Philosophy of Law, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, and Sentencing. His research interests include the area of financial compensation for victims of crime and sentencing practices, including the use of reparative dispositions in the criminal law. He is a co-author of the text: Canadian Criminal Justice Today, now entering its second edition. He is presently an Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.
Dr. Margaret A. Jackson
email margarej@sfu.ca
Dr. Jackson received her B.A. from the University of California, and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Toronto. She is a Professor of Criminology at Simon Fraser University and Director of the Institute for Studies in Criminal Justice Policy. Research interests include violence against women and children, policy analysis, women offenders, aboriginal justice, risk assessment, and sentencing practices and alternatives to incarceration.
Neil Madu
email nmadu@sfu.ca
Neil Madu is a well known guide to self-discovery with the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University where he teaches Ethics and Helping Skills. Neil work involves direct discovery of our true nature, learning to express our undivided wholeness and the immediacy of pure being where people come to love and cherish who they are. He has a wide range of interests which include Zen, Buddhism, Hospice and Palliative Care, Amnesty International, Mental Health, Ancient Wisdom, Meditations, Music and Poetry. Neil is a compelling force in the teaching arena. His gentle intelligence and heartfelt compassion offer a clear perspective on the very human situations of daily life. He has a passion for literature, life and the pursuit of world peace.
Dr. Brian Burtch
Brian Burtch is a Professor of Criminology and an Associate Member in Simon Fraser University�s Department of Womens Studies. His key interests are Sociology of Law, Gender and Law, Midwifery and the State, Critical Criminology, Penal Abolition, and efforts to support non-traditional postsecondary students, especially mid-career, mature students. He chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Lifelong Learning at SFU and served as the BC/Yukon regional representative for the Writers' Union of Canada from 1999-2001. He is also interested in teaching with online technology, authoring online and distance-education courses, and supporting cohort-based education such as the Integrated Studies Program at SFU and the Criminology Honours program.
Jane Miller-Ashton
Faculty Member, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Criminology Department
Jane is a teacher, facilitator and mediator with a Masters in Criminology (applied) from the University of Ottawa, and 33 years of work in the criminal justice system which includes senior management service, spans two levels of government and contributions in community based corrections, crime prevention, restorative justice, conflict resolution and with women’s, victims’ and First Nations issues.
Among her work experience with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) , Jane co-chaired the working group “Creating Choices: The Task Force on Federally Sentenced Women”, whose report was instrumental in forging new directions for federally sentenced women including the closure of Prison for Women and the creation of smaller facilities including a healing lodge.
Before coming to SFU on a three year assignment teaching in the areas of corrections, restorative justice and victimology , Jane pioneered and headed up for eight years, a Branch responsible for restorative justice, dispute resolution and victims services in CSC, and has experience both nationally an internationally in these fields.
Some of her current community activities include member of the Steering Committee for the National Restorative Justice Consortium, a United Church of Canada representative in the Residential Schools ADR process, founding board member of The Hospitality Project, as well Peacemaking Circle training and facilitation and volunteer work as a mediator.
Since her retirement from CSC in 2008, Jane has been on the full time faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University where she teaches in the areas of conflict resolution, corrections, women and crime, as well as criminal justice administration. She has research interests in the area of restorative justice and, and serves on the Kwantlen Criminology Community Advisory Committee.
Jane has received, from various community-based organizations, inmate groups and government agencies, a variety of honours for her work including the Governor General’s Exemplary Service Medal in 1999.
Adjunct Professors
Dr. Kay Pranis
Kay served the Minnesota Department of Corrections in the position of Restorative Justice Planner from 1994 to 2003. In that position she provided education to the criminal justice system, other agencies and the general public about restorative justice. She also assisted groups interested in implementing the principles of restorative justice in their communities through system change and community empowerment. She worked with leaders in corrections, law enforcement, the judiciary, civic organizations, neighborhood groups, faith communities and education to develop a comprehensive response to crime and conflict based on restorative justice.
Kay continues to be active in the field of restorative justice, providing training and technical assistance to national and local initiatives with a special emphasis on the use of peacemaking circles. She has been involved in the development of circle processes in criminal justice, schools, neighborhoods, families and the workplace. She is a co-author of the book Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community and author of the Little Book of Circle Processes: A New/Old Approach to Peacemaking.
Kay is an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University, Eastern Mennonite University and Southwest Minnesota State University.
Kay has served as a consultant, curriculum writer and trainer for the National Institute of Corrections, the National Institute of Justice, and the Balanced and Restorative Justice Project of the Office for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. She serves on the Board of Reference of the Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite University and the Board of Directors of Living Justice Press, a non-profit publisher for restorative justice.
From 1988 to 1994 Kay worked for the Minnesota Citizens Council on Crime and Justice in public policy research and advocacy. Kay’s background in community activism includes nine years of service on a local school board and three years as chair of the board of the Southern Valley Alliance for Battered Women.
Honors
• 1997 “On Behalf of Youth Award,” Forest Lake Youth Service Bureau
• 1997 Public Partnership Award, Minneapolis Center for Neighborhoods
• 1998 Peacemaker Award, “You’re the One Who Can Make the Peace” Campaign
• 2001 American Probation and Parole Association’s Sam Houston State University Award
• 2002 Kay Pranis Restorative Practices Award established by the Dispute Resolution Center to be awarded annually recognizing someone who has helped build and rebuild lives in the East Metro area of St. Paul
Dr. Paul McCold
Paul McCold is adjunct professor at the Centre for Restorative Justice at the School of Criminology of Simon Fraser University and the Criminal Justice Department of St. Martin's University in Lacey, WA. He was a founding professor of restorative practices at the Graduate School of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) in Bethlehem Pennsylvania and he was IIRP's Director of Research for a decade. Prior to that, he was associate professor at Temple University and Old Dominion University. Paul received his Ph.D. in criminal justice at the University of Albany and was a research scientist with New York State for ten years. He represented the Friends World Committee on Consultation (Quakers) at the Alliance of NGOs on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice since 1995 and was recently chair of the Alliance. As chair of the Working Party on Restorative Justice, he helped organize ancillary sessions on restorative justice at the 2000 and 2005 United Nations Congresses on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice. He published Restorative Justice: An Annotated Bibliography and several articles for the Working Party. He was a member of the expert group reviewing the Handbook on Restorative Justice Programmes by the Criminal Justice Reform Unit of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime in Vienna. Paul is an original member of the International Network for Research on Restorative Justice of Belgium and is a signatory of the Declaration of Leuven, 1997. He served as a technical consultant to the COST Action 21 Restorative Justice Developments in Europe and as a grant reviewer on restorative justice projects for the European Science Foundation, the Community-University Research Alliances in Canada and the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong. He represented the IIRP as an institutional member of the European Forum on Restorative Justice and has trained restorative conferencing facilitators and trainers in Australia, Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He is currently living in Olympia Washington.
Rev. David Gustafson
Dave Gustafson is a co-director of the Fraser Region Community Justice Initiative Association in Langley, British Columbia. Working as a team with Sandi Bergen, Dave does case development and mediation for FRCJI Victim Offender Mediation Program for victims and offenders impacted by serious and violent crime. He is also a registered trauma recovery clinician and Adjunct Professor of Criminology at Simon Fraser University.
Barry Stuart
Formerly a judge in the Yukon, Barry Stuart has worked internationally on
constitutional, environmental, judicial and organizational issues. In his
current practice he has joined CSE Group, a Vancouver firm providing
alternate dispute resolution services for private and public conflicts.
He is also an Associate with the Dialogue Group at the Wosk Centre for
Dialogue, Simon Fraser University.
His primary interest in dialogue is its power to extract from differences
the opportunity and energy it offers to build new relationships and
innovative solutions. While he began in law, very early in his work, his
interest turned to exploring and developing any alternative process that
engaged the parties in a consensus-based search for innovative solutions.