Our program looks to work with young people on two levels. One is to repair the harm and relationships that have been damaged through their actions. Second is to look for ways in which they can address some of the root causes of the behaviours that brought them to the justice system in the first place.
We work with young people to encourage them to fulfill their education, seek full-time employment and mentorship, and look at their own psychology of how they think of themselves, their identity and how they fit and sit within the world they live.
There are two key points to our restorative justice model. One is repairing the harm caused by an individual. The second is not as common. It's looking at how the system—whether it's the education, justice or the child welfare system—has impacted them. It's helping young people and their families come to terms with the damage that has been caused by the system they exist in, which they have very little power to change.
Our program is not about hugging a thug. It isn't about not being responsible for your actions. Our program would never say that some people should not be processed through a criminal justice system.
What we do say is that we need to provide young people and young adults—emerging adults, especially those from 19 to 25 who are overrepresented and who face mental health, drug use and abuse issues because of trauma that has been caused in their life.... We need to go to the root causes of that and support them in their transition to making better decisions for them and their loved ones. That actually increases the safety within our communities. We've seen this in many cases.
Working at addressing root causes is one of the things we believe the criminal justice system can help support. Support funding for women's programming and family supports. Support educational attainment for students and their families. Support family reintegration because many families are separated when they come through, for example, the immigration system. I, myself, have gone through that process.
Those are the kinds of things we believe help create safer communities, utilizing a restorative justice model.