Last year, RJABC hosted its first Provincial Restorative Justice Symposium (PRJS). The two-day event in addition to one day of pre-symposium trainings held at the Executive Hotel Vancouver Airport in Richmond, BC was highly attended by RJ advocates, educators, partners, and practitioners. Thank you to the 2023 PRJS Planning Committee comprised of RJABC Board Directors and staff, and Association members and partners from various regions of the province who worked tirelessly to plan and organize a successful symposium. We are deeply grateful for all the trainers, keynote speakers, and workshop presenters that contributed to making this symposium a success. We are also very thankful to the sponsors of the event, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General and Simon Fraser University | Continuing Studies. Lastly, thank you to all who attended the symposium, and we look forward to seeing everyone at the next one!
RJABC also hosted a half-day training and community dialogue with author & educator Crystena Parker-Shandal on restorative justice in educational settings. At this event, Dr. Parker-Shandal shared some findings from her recently published book Restorative Justice in the Classroom: Liberating Students’ Voices through Relational Pedagogy and discussed how culturally responsive and trauma informed practices work with restorative justice and how relational opportunities for building a culture of care and connection can occur within learning environments.
These events are part of RJABC’s strategic and operational plan to increase awareness and understanding of restorative justice across the province and help build capacity for restorative justice programs and practitioners. Learn more about RJABC’s strategic and operational plan illustrated in the graphics, the successes of year 1 and year 2, and our continued work to further establish RJABC, and engage with our members and partners to promote the growth of restorative justice in BC.
As we look towards year 3 and year 4 of our strategic and operational plan, we look forward to engaging with our members and partners through the following RJABC events and initiatives:
- 2nd Provincial RJ Symposium (dates and venue to be announced soon!)
- Hiring of RJABC foundational RJ training curriculum developers
- Hiring of RJABC foundational RJ training regional trainers
- Continued hosting of the Provincial RJ Leadership Committee with support from Just Outcomes
