The restorative justice model of repairing harm has successfully been brought into schools through a pilot program and is expected to continue to expand as an alternative to suspensions.
In a workshop at Chatelech Secondary School last week, a group of 20 RCMP officers, teachers and community members were training to be facilitators for restorative justice circles. The circles, which have been taking place at Chat since last year, include both the youth who caused harm, the youth harmed, a school administrator, support people for each youth, a facilitator, a co-facilitator and an RCMP officer for criminal offences. The program is an extension and partnership of the restorative justice model in the community that RCMP have been using as a potential alternative to court for offenders, depending on seriousness and remorse, since the 90s. Examples of offences referred to alternative measures include theft under $5,000, uttering threats, mischief, fraud, drug possession and obstruction. Circles have a huge success rate and show low rates of re-offending, according to Suzette Stevenson, Sunshine Coast Community Justice Program co-ordinator. The volunteer-run program, based at the Sunshine Coast RCMP detachment in Sechelt, operates with minimal financial costs, receiving a $2,500 grant from the provincial Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General per year, as well as grants-in-aid from the Sunshine Coast Regional District and the District of Sechelt.
The Youth Criminal Justice Act mandates that alternative measures be considered for first-time offences, Suzette said, which could include circles or writing letters. The goal of restorative justice is to intervene early and have offenders realize the impacts of their actions, to take responsibility and to repair harm.
"It's not the answer for everybody, but if you can intervene at a certain point, you can make a difference," Stevenson said.
Involvement of both victim and offender in a circle is entirely voluntary, after police or the school refer the matter to a circle. The offender must show remorse to be referred. Circles in the schools can take place for non-criminal issues such as bullying.
Discussions for the pilot project at Chat began last May and the program took off in September. Now teachers from other schools are getting trained to bring the program to more schools in the district. The pilot's continuation will be reassessed in June.
In her experience facilitating circles, Stevenson has found youths and parents were satisfied with the results. The parents appreciate the learning experience for their children of talking about how they reached that point and realizing how their actions affected other people and their community.
In the circles, the victims, or those who were harmed, can feel heard, talk about and gain an understanding of what happened and often realize the incident was random rather than targeted against them, Stevenson explained.
Everyone in the circle must agree on a contract for the offender to fulfill to repair the harm. The circle then assigns one of the participants to supervise and support the person through completion of the contract. The non-judgmental process allows the youths doing the harm to gain an understanding of what took place and to successfully re-integrate into the community and the school. The restorative justice model originated from the Maori people in New Zealand and has now spread throughout the world. The circles are similar to Aboriginal sentencing and healing circles but are more structured and are scripted, Stevenson explained. Two of the Sunshine Coast RCMP officers recently trained as facilitators have an Aboriginal background, Stevenson said.
The circles are also useful for elementary school students because offenders under age 12 cannot be criminally charged, so this process deals with the issue, she said.
Halfmoon Bay (HMB) Com-munity School has taken on a restorative justice approach to discipline through a restitution model. The school identifies core values, then teachers go over the values in the classroom. If there is an incident, they can then go back to the core values, explained HMB co-ordinator Sue Lamb. The question they ask in restitution is, "Are you being the person you want to be?"
"The goal is to strengthen the individuals rather than punish," Lamb said. And so far, the model has proven successful."Incidences of students being sent to the office has dropped dramatically," Lamb said. She has also facilitated circles."In the circle, you have to face the people you've harmed," Lamb said. "You're helped to see the effects your behaviour may have on others."
Circles have also taken place at the Sunshine Coast Alternative School. Principal Sally Thicke has found the process had positive effects on students' behaviour and the school culture.
"The goal is to bring about a resolution when there has been some conduct or behaviour that has affected one person or the school community, to bring accountability," Thicke said. "The process has shown to have little recidivism."
At the beginning, the youth find the circles uncomfortable and difficult, but by the end they are thankful because they have made amends and experienced forgiveness, she said. The person who has done harm is reintegrated into the community rather than being labelled as a "bad guy," she added.
"I haven't seen or heard anything more effective than this in dealing with bullying," Thicke concluded.
Chat vice-principal Ann Skelcher has taken an active role in the program, sitting in on about 15 to 20 circles in the school so far. A major goal of the program, she said, is to help students take full responsibility for what happened and to find a way to give back and restore. Suspensions will push students away, leave them angry, and leave the parents with full responsibility for discipline. "I think that is the very worst thing we can do for kids is to push them away," Skelcher said. The school must still follow school board policies for suspensions, such as school safety incidents or use of weapons, but those incidents can also go to an RCMP-referred circle in the school. Detentions and suspensions don't help the students fix the problem, she said.
"We decided to try it and it's been very successful," she said. "Ninety-five per cent of the parents have been extremely supportive and very grateful to have that opportunity to be involved in the circle."
She hopes the program will go well beyond June and noted a need to train more facilitators in the schools.
"We're really grateful to Suzette and the community facilitators because without them we would not have been able to make this move," Skelcher said.
Sandra Hawkins, a trainer of community justice facilitators for the RCMP provincially, was teaching the workshop at Chat last week. Hawkins, who is a retired teacher, was visiting from Williams Lake. She trains facilitators throughout the province.
"I particularly enjoyed doing the Sechelt training, not only because it is such a beautiful place, but because there is a lot of enthusiasm for Restorative Justice here," Hawkins said. "It is evident that the local RCMP are supporting the program and other community members are assisting where they can."
The three-day training session involved information, discussion and simulation circles. The only cost to the community was the expenses from presenting the workshop.
