Last night retired Yukon Judge Barry Stuart, a vocal supporter of restorative justice , held a dialogue on Bill C-10 in a Centre Block Senate Committee room on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. The gathering was attended by representatives of the John Howard Society, Salvation Army, Somali Mothers Association, Victims of Crime, Penal Reform International and a number of other organizations and individuals with personal experience with correctional facilities and the criminal justice system. Senator James Cowan , a member of the legal and constitutional affairs committee, was also in attendance.
With over 30 people in attendance, each comment and topic brought up by attendees could have had its own discussion session. Yet there were four key themes of the night.
Mr. Stuart and Eva Marszewski, of Peacebuilders International Canada, started the discussion off by talking about the need for community involvement in justice issues. Ms. Marszewski talked of how Peacebuilders had created a pilot program that brings offenders into discussion circles with community members. This allows the community to decide what the offender should do to make amends and be accountable. The project has been so successful that the provincial courts have fully funded an office for their work in downtown Toronto.
Barry Stuart expanded on Ms. Marszewski’s points by arguing that 75 percent of his former workload as a judge could have been handled much more inexpensively by health experts and involved community members.
One of the themes of the night was participatory democracy, or as Mr. Stuart referred to it, “creating a safe place to allow a community to do the work to make it a community.” There were many people at the table who openly claimed little expertise in in this approach, but Mr. Stuart repeated that this is a civil society issue, a human rights issue , and that everyone has expertise in human understanding.
Another theme was society’s “addiction to punishment,” as one United Church representative put it. The idea of jail time equitable to a victim’s revenge seemed to be ingrained in the values and belief system of many citizens. But as some pointed out, victims are often merely seeking accountability, and see no other alternative to the criminal justice system. Yet many proponents of stronger sentencing are unaware of alternative methods, such as the Gladue Approach , which both save money and reduces recidivism.
Overall, it was agreed that a difficult, nebulous and morally difficult conversation needed to be had focused on the purpose of the justice system. This effort would have to understand what real justice is, what the effects of crimes are and what motivates offenders.
The largest theme of the discussion was the problems that Bill C-10 will create.Issues such as the fears of greater prison overcrowding, a further clogged justice system, cuts to already inadequate community funding and other preventative programs, the growing private prison lobby in Ottawa and how victims and offenders will both become further victims as funding squeezes reduce access to justice were all discussed.
There wasn’t a whole lot of optimism here, as Bill C-10 is almost certain to pass and begin contributing directly to these problems. However, this discussion led into to the final theme of the night: unity.
The sheer amount of problems that so many groups have with Bill C-10 has seemed to unite people. Many long-time activists felt that even five years ago, such a diverse group of individuals and organizations would not be in the same room together. Mr. Stuart described how he had grown tired of everyone meeting in a room, getting a big morale boost, and then going back to their separate communities. Mr. Stuart noted that there were many legislators and ordinary citizens who had “cracks of doubt” with Bill C-10.
He declared it was time for a national restorative justice organization that could effectively harness this diverse movement for criminal justice alternatives and create new windows for those with second thoughts.
The real work is just beginning.
