By Marianne Meadahl

Inmates at Mission’s Ferndale Correctional Institution are paying tribute to SFU criminologist Liz Elliott, a champion of restorative justice, with a traditional totem pole carved in her honour.

First Nations elders will lead a blessing before the pole is raised during a ceremony on Monday, Dec. 5, 10 am-noon in the School of Criminology’s atrium in Saywell Hall at the Burnaby campus.

Elliott, who died of cancer in September at age 54, was well known and respected at the university and throughout the country’s corrections community.

She gave her support to countless inmates during more than three decades of activism and outreach. Last fall, Correctional Services of Canada recognized her as a driving force behind the country’s restorative justice movement.

Elliott was a member of two restorative initiatives at Ferndale—the Alternatives to Violence project and a weekly reflection and dialogue circle. Her passing created an immediate void, but her fellowship has attracted the commitment of students at SFU now following in her footsteps.

“The astonishing numbers of undergraduates and graduates who have taken courses with Liz is a fine testament to her achievements and to the high esteem with which she was held,” says school director Rob Gordon. “We’ll do our best but, frankly, she is irreplaceable.”

The pole—a fallen cedar from the 2006 Stanley Park storm—was selected by Ferndale elder Alex Paul and gifted by the T’sleil Waututh First Nation. A pair of inmates began carving it last spring. When it was nearly complete, and just three days before her death, Elliott and her family had a chance to view it.

At the pole’s top, at Elliott’s request, is a hummingbird, which has special meaning, says colleague Brenda Morrison, who co-directed SFU’s Centre for Restorative Justice with Elliott.

“A First Nations parable tells the story of a great forest fire,” says Morrison, “where all the animals ran for safety. Only one animal turned to face the injustice of the fire, and do what she could, drop by drop—a little hummingbird.
“That was Liz.”

Liz Elliott Memorial Lecture
The Ferndale totem pole is one of several tributes to Elliott, including an annual Liz Elliott Memorial Lecture and Dialogue during Restorative Justice Week in mid-November and an SFU graduate scholarship in her name.

“The lecture will move her ideas into the public domain,” says Gordon. “The totem pole will be a constant reminder of those ideas, and the graduate student scholarship will provide support for the next generation of researchers and advocates.”