By Liam Verster

Restorative Justice

Beaverlodge RCMP and partners looking to establish Restorative Justice Program

Jul 21, 2020 | 2:36 PM

The Beaverlodge RCMP detachment, in partnership with the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) and Victim Support Unit (VSU), is applying for the Alberta Community Restorative Justice Grant, in order to establish a Restorative Justice Program in the community.

Sgt. Ash Brown with the Beaverlodge RCMP says the voluntary program involves having a Restorative Justice Coordination mediate meetings between perpetrators and victims of crimes and conflicts, and discuss how the actions impacted everybody involved.

“It’s a chance for the victim to say things like ‘Offender, why did you choose me for this offence?’ and it has the openness for the offender to say ‘Well I was going through this in my life, and this was either targeted or it wasn’t targeted.’ It might be just ‘something that I did in the middle of the night because I was really drunk.'”

He says the support person and the victim seem to benefit the most out of these discussions, as it allows the victim to get some closure and satisfaction that resolves the conflicts. The Alberta Restorative Justice Association says this process, along with creating a more satisfying result for both parties involved, also leads to less repeat offenders.

Browne says he’s heard from partners in the community in the past asking to have a Restorative Justice Program established in the area, and believes it could be effective as crimes have to go through the court in Grande Prairie, it can take several months to get a verdict, which may not even satisfy the victim.

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Restorative Justice can go either parallel or outside of the court process, and Browne says there’s two ways that to get an issue into the program.

“It comes through a report or a crime through our office and gets identified that way, by a member, by a Victim Services Unit, or eventually by a Restorative Justice Program Coordinator.

“It can also be done within the community itself, and a lot of times those are done through the school. So, lets say you have a fight at the school, the teacher becomes aware of it, they go to the principal and the principal can actually do a Restorative Justice Referral straight across without any police involvement.”

Though the program doesn’t always need to involve the police, most of the issues that would be dealt with would be associated with crime, and police in Alberta are typically heavily involved in Restorative Justice.

The application for the grant requires at least three letters of support, and though County Council just approved writing one, the Beaverlodge RCMP are awaiting few more, so they can apply with nine letters of support.

The grants can be as much as $50,000, and Browne says they’d prefer to have one in the higher range, as they will need to create and fill the Program Coordinator position, which would be part-time. They could also have volunteer positions in the program that would be filled by people who want to do some work on the side to help better their community.

Browne says they’ve been interested in establishing this type of program for quite some time and have researched ways other communities run them. He says, if they are successful in getting the grant, they would want to emulate the model being used in Peace River Restorative Justice Association.

That model involves referrals would that come through Restorative Justice and VSU via an officer who determined the offender to be a good candidate for the program. It would then be up to the Program Coordinator to collect background information, and arrange for the mediated meeting.

This process could be done even if there are charges going through the regular court system, but could also exist outside of the courts, with referrals coming from community groups or schools as well.

If they are not successful in getting the provincial funds, Browne says they can go to their partners, the County and the Towns they serve, and try to get some support to put together this program, though it would take longer and may not be as robust as it could be if they received the grant.

The application for the grant is due by the end of July, and Browne hopes they find out very soon after whether or not they get approved.