Something unique and important is happening here in NL! Restorative Justice Month and RFNL
- dorothy vaandering
- Dec 9
- 4 min read
It’s December. A time to reflect and slow down. It follows November, which in Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada, and many other countries, is the opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the growth of restorative justice. Looking back on a very full Restorative Justice Month, one thing is clear: while we still need more accessible restorative justice opportunities for everyone, there is powerful foundational work happening across the province. Like a seed taking root in dark soil, the creativity, courage, and integrity already emerging will support strong growth ahead. Two examples:
RFNL’s Restorative Justice Education Institute (Nov. 13–15)
RFNL welcomed approximately 90 attendees from across the province and various traditional and non-traditional education and community contexts to its annual RJE Institute: Trauma-Informed Restorative Justice for healthier schools, communities and systems in NL. Under the creative, innovative, and relational leadership of RFNL’s Education Coordinator, Sarah McDonald Moores, an event emerged that allowed people to learn about and engage with trauma-informed practice. We were able to open ourselves up to the trauma we struggle with personally and professionally by listening to the stories of speakers who were willing to share their own trauma and healing journeys. Intertwined were opportunities for finding healing through somatic activities of sharing, rhythm, singing, drawing, eating, and interacting in open physical spaces. Sarah’s ingenuity and knowledge of restorative justice principles and practices, along with her deep insight and experience with music and relational ways of being and knowing, illustrated how brave and safe spaces can be created. I will never forget watching a family of four arriving and finding a space to sit together near a window in the Emera Centre, several neurodiverse participants finding just what they needed to engage in ways unique to them, participants doing yoga in an open space to help them concentrate on what the current speaker was saying, a table of 8 youth from a local high school sharing their need for spaces to speak about deep grief that is shoved aside by the discomfort of adults who are meant to guide them, an international university student telling me he didn’t realize he was the only black person in the group till at least half way through the event, the ardent plea to not forget that Labrador is part of this province, and the Mi’kmaq drumming that began unannounced and everyone stood to honour the reality that we are a community responsible to and for each other. What we experienced was restorative justice in action, not a strategy or tool but a way of being that embraces all as worthy and interconnected.
The design of this event and the deep participation with this way of being is unique and so important for restorative justice in NL to grow strong!
The National Restorative Justice Symposium (NRJS), Ottawa (Nov. 16-18).
For the second year in a row, a significant number of people from NL attended this conference. The sheer number of people—21!-- is an encouragement that reveals just how many different initiatives are happening in the province. Take a look at the list:
Martina Lavellee: Happy Valley Goose Bay The Journey Project
Sarah Mchugh-Wade: St. John’s The Journey Project
Janet Lee: St. John’s The Journey Project
Ashley MacDonald St. John’s The Journey Project
Paula Michelin: Happy Valley Goose Bay Public Legal Information NL
Abby Poole: Happy Valley Goose Bay Public Legal Information NL
Rueben Pillay Sheshatshui Federal/Provincial Justice Manager
Lindsey Hibbs Sheshatshui Justice Coordinator
Julia O’Brien Nunatsiavut Social Worker
*Alice Hunt St. John’s Educator
Wilson Hunt St. John’s RJ Advocate & Supporter
*Alyssa Brennan St. John’s Educator
*Rod Jeddore Miawpukek Director of Education-Se’t Aneway
Kari Traynor Gander Family Information Liaison Unit (FILU) of Newfoundland and Labrador-Victim Services
Carey Majid St. John’s Director, Human Rights Commission NL
*Catherine Kelly St. John’s Lead Facilitator, Community Justice Connect
Michelle Feener St. John’s Consultant, Business Innovator, TLDC
*Chief Mi’sel Joe Miawpukek (virtual) Traditional Chief/RFNL Cultural Consultant
Jessica Webb St. John’s RFNL
Sarah McDonald St. John’s RFNL
*dorothy vaandering St. John’s RFNL/MUN
*presenters at the symposium
The national event was celebrating 20 years, and while initially it was unclear what had changed in 20 years, as our time together unfolded, participants could sense a significant shift—the willingness of most in attendance to dig deep personally and professionally to realize that restorative justice in this country is struggling with the ongoing challenges of (re)colonization. The beautiful balance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous presenters speaking into the concerns for the future became a challenge that highlighted the need for non-Indigenous peoples to let go and allow Indigenous leadership to bring further transformation into society. This is something we have been grappling with since Chief Mi’sel Joe, RFNL’s Cultural Advisor, asked us in 2019 “When are you going to let us (Mi’kmaq, Innu, Inuit of this Land) drive the restorative justice bus?”
NL was well represented at the Symposium through presentations that did not shy away from the challenges of the future:
Catherine Kelly (CJC): Keynote panel presentation: Death by Pilot [projects]: Four Recommendations
Chief Mi’sel Joe (Miawpukek), Rod Jeddore (Se’t A’newey), dorothy vaandering (RFNL/MUN): Two-Eared Listening for Deeper Understanding: Who is Driving the Bus?
Alyssa Brennan (NLSchools Educator): Building Thinking Classrooms through Student Planned and Facilitated Curriculum Circles.
Alice Hunt (NLSchools Educator): Bringing Restorative Justice Education to the Family Context
dorothy vaandering (RFNL/MUN) Christianne Paras (RJABC): Navigating the Complexities of Relational Accountability in Organizational Contexts.
Next year’s National Restorative Justice Symposium will be held in Saskatoon and hosted by the Saskatoon Tribal Council. Plan to attend!
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