Restorative Justice & Community: Reclaiming Connection and Responsibility for Our Neighbor

Restorative justice often focuses on those who have been harmed and those responsible for harm. Yet communities are rarely invited to fully inhabit their role in the restoration process. Drawing on themes from The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Community: Reclaiming Connection and Responsibility for Our Neighbors, this keynote explores how healing and accountability are strengthened when neighbors, families, institutions, and bystanders embrace their shared responsibility for one another. Through stories, practical examples, and a restorative lens grounded in connection, participants will examine how communities can move from spectators to active partners in repair. Together, we will explore how many voices, woven into connected circles of care and accountability, create the conditions for belonging, resilience, and collective healing.

Caitlin Morneau is an author, educator, circlekeeper, speaker, and community organizer dedicated to community-based, healing-oriented solutions to harm and injustice. Caitlin is the co-author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice & Community: Reclaiming Connection and Responsibility for our Neighbors (Good Books, 2026) with Sheryl Wilson. She was also lead adapter of Harm, Healing, and Human Dignity: A Catholic Encounter with Restorative Justice (Liturgical Press, 2018) and host of the Encounters with Dignity podcast. As Director of Restorative Justice at Catholic Mobilizing Network, she is committed to an ethic of human dignity and mutuality that builds relationships and capacity among people of faith to engage with the national restorative justice movement. Caitlin holds an MA in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University and a Certificate in Pastoral Studies Catholic Theological Union. Caitlin lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, two children, and black lab.

Sheryl R. Wilson, M.L.S., is the Vice President of Culture and Belonging at Bethel College (KS) and a nationally recognized practitioner, educator, and thought leader in restorative justice with more than 20 years of experience. Her work spans higher education, nonprofit organizations, and public agencies, both nationally and internationally. Her work also includes facilitating restorative dialogues and community mediation, circle processes, and research.

Sheryl has taught restorative justice at the college level and has extensive experience in community outreach, victim-offender dialogue, and victim advocacy in capital cases. She holds a Master of Liberal Studies degree with a restorative justice focus from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, is a Kansas state-approved mediator, and has served by appointment on the Kansas Supreme Court’s Advisory Council on Dispute Resolution. She is also a past President of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ).

She is co-author of The Little Book of Restorative Justice and Community: Reclaiming Connection and Responsibility for Our Neighbors (2026), a recent publication that centers the essential role of community in restorative practice and advances a relational approach to justice. Her additional scholarship includes the chapter “Calling Out Whiteness” in Colorizing Restorative Justice and “Leveraging Slow Leadership to Develop Deans” in Developing Deans: Transforming Academic Leadership (2026), co-authored with Bethel professors Christine Crouse-Dick and Rachel Epp Buller.

At Bethel College, Sheryl is the founding leader of the Truth, Community Healing, and Transformation (TCHT) Campus Center and previously served as Executive Director of the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (KIPCOR). She is also a co-founder of the Slow Leadership Institute, advancing a human-centered approach to leadership grounded in deep listening, prioritizing relationships and restorative practices.

Restorative Justice & Sexual Harm

This panel brings together diverse perspectives to explore the transformative potential of restorative justice in response to sexual harm. Through the voices of a survivor (Candace), therapist (Leita), university educator (Alana), and victim services provider (Roselle), participants will gain insight into how the impact of restorative justice can extend out from those most impacted to transform both educational and carceral spaces. Grounded in lived and living experiences, the discussion will examine the emotional, relational, and systemic impacts of sexual harm, and how restorative justice can create space for dialogue, validation, and survivor-centered responses. Panelists will reflect on the importance of safety, consent, trauma-informed practice, and the role of community in supporting those affected by sexual harm. The panel will also include the voice of the person who caused harm, shared through a letter, offering a perspective on accountability, reflection, and the possibilities—and limitations—of repair.

This session invites participants to engage critically with restorative justice as one possible approach to addressing sexual harm—one that prioritizes dignity, responsibility, and the potential for healing, while recognizing the complexity and care such processes require.

Candace Wood is an advocate, speaker, author, and survivor who uses her lived experience to contribute to conversations surrounding restorative justice, healing, accountability, and sexualized violence. Through her advocacy, Candace speaks openly about the realities of trauma, recovery, and navigating systems after surviving sexual violence. Her work focuses on creating space for honest dialogue while encouraging education, empathy, accountability, and meaningful change within communities and justice systems.

Candace has participated directly in restorative justice processes and has become passionate about the impact restorative practices can have when approached with responsibility, safety, and genuine accountability. She brings a unique perspective shaped not only by survival, but also by her willingness to engage in difficult conversations surrounding harm, rehabilitation, and healing. She has also spoken during university criminology and law courses, sharing her experiences and perspectives with students and future professionals entering the justice field.
In addition to her advocacy work, Candace is an author and founder of Potent Publishing. Her work centers around storytelling, recovery, connectedness, and creating spaces where people feel seen, heard, and understood.

Candace is honored to be speaking at the Fourth Annual Provincial Restorative Justice Symposium alongside professionals and leaders in the fields of restorative justice, victim services, criminology, and healing-centered practice.

Leita McInnis (she/her) is an organizer, advocate, and therapist who is honoured to support people impacted by violence, policing, and the criminal (in)justice systems. Drawing on anti-oppressive, transformative, and relational approaches in her practice, she works to support individuals as they unpack the impacts of systemic oppression and journey towards healing, wholeness, and reclamation. Prioritizing community-led initiatives and supporting those already doing this work, Leita is committed to radical compassion, curiosity, and humility.

Her practice focuses on the complexities of violence, dismantling the perpetrator/survivor binary, accountability, repair, and transformation. She holds the deep belief that no one is disposable and comes to this work with a commitment to decolonization, resistance, and the de-professionalization of therapy.

Roselle Quinones is the Victim Services Coordinator with the Port Moody Police Department and has over 20 years of frontline and leadership experience supporting individuals impacted by crime and trauma. Her work focuses on providing crisis intervention, emotional support, and guidance on community resources and the criminal justice system.

Roselle serves on the Police Victim Services of BC (PVSBC) Board of Directors as the Municipal Victim Services Program Representative and acts as the Liaison to the Restorative Justice Association of BC (RJABC) Board. Through these dual roles, she helps foster collaboration and dialogue between victim services and restorative justice programs, strengthening approaches that support those who have been harmed, those who have caused harm, and the broader community.

In addition to her liaison role, Roselle is the President of PVSBC and a Director with RJABC, where she continues to champion trauma‑informed practice, partnership‑building, and innovative service delivery to support victims of crime and trauma.

Author and Storyteller Panel Presentation: A Forthcoming Text on Restorative Justice in Canada

This panel will involve authors of the upcoming book, Restorative Justice in Canada, Alana Abramson and Muhammad Asadullah, moderating a discussion between 4 people who shared their stories in the book. Restorative Justice in Canada is a new, student-focused text from authors Alana Abramson and Muhammad Asadullah that examines the core values and principles that guide efforts to repair harm and restore relationships. Students are introduced to the underlying values of restorative justice, including empathy, healing, accountability, respect, and community and gain a deeper understanding of how these values shape both the theory and practice of restorative justice across Canada. Opening each chapter with a profile of a Canadian who has been involved in restorative justice practices in Canada, this text helps students explore restorative justice’s transformative nature and how it works both within and beyond the legal system, also examining the practice of restorative justice in schools, workplaces, families, and communities. Features such as videos of real restorative justice cases with discussion questions and “Think About It” boxes with reflective prompts encourage critical thinking and place key concepts in real-world contexts. An essential resource for students in restorative justice, criminology, and peace and conflict studies who want to understand harm, accountability, and healing in a meaningful and just way.

Laura Glover: I am honoured to be presenting at this symposium and am grateful to RJABC and the PRJS for curating this gathering and for the invitation to be a part of it. I have worked in and learned through criminal, social and restorative justice for over 30 years in rooms like this full of wonderful people like you.  My trajectory on this path we share began with a chance encounter with a troubled stranger at 8 years old and continues to guide me some 50 years later. It has led me through darkest shadows and moments of light and deep learning, such as this gathering here this week. I am grateful for the invitation to share with you, the opportunity to learn from you and for the heart and dedication of all of us walking the path of this world-changing work.

Nimra Burki sat as the executive member in one of the first post-secondary undergraduate restorative justice clubs in Canada, the UR Restorative Justice Club, from 2023-2026, serving primarily as President. In this role, Burki had the honour of hosting the First Undergraduate Restorative Justice Conference in Saskatchewan at the University of Regina in 2025. Additionally, she has organized national restorative justice webinars featuring award winning speakers. Burki graduated with a Bachelor of Human Justice and certificate in Law and Society in June of 2026 from the University of Regina. Burki has also practiced as a Dispute Resolution Facilitator with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice, Office of Residential Tenancies and Attorney General. Currently, Burki is pursuing her law degree at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Lincoln Alexander School of Law (former Ryerson University) in Toronto, Ontario.

Rob Sand has been in prison for the last thirty years and is currently serving life 25 for the first degree murder of RCMP officer, Dennis Strongquill. Throughout his time in prison he has moved from stages of anger and destruction to a place of healing and self-discovery that has allowed him to come to a place of true accountability and change. Rob values deep honesty, transformative conversations and restorative justice in all aspects of life.

Warren McDougall is a member of Gitanmaax First Nation, with mixed Indigenous, Russian, and Irish ancestry. His identity was forged in an inferno of generational and developmental trauma, compounded by over two decades of incarceration, before an experience with Restorative Justice catalyzed his transformation. Starting out while incarcerated as a peer counsellor and later founding and coordinating a peer advocacy project, Warren built foundational skills that helped build his path to atonement. Now a clinical counsellor, specializing in trauma and restorative justice, Warren walks with Indigenous individuals, families, and communities, who are healing from the pains of the past and rebuilding their lives in the way that fits their vision. His work also includes consulting and training for various communities and organizations, such as the Crisis and Trauma Resource Institute, the Law Foundation of BC, and various First Nations organizations. He spearheaded a successful pilot program for the First Nations Health Authority, bringing clinical supports to First Nations communities while eroding stigma and lateral violence around accessing mental health and addiction supports. He was the clinical lead in a webinar series for FNHA and the BC Centre for Substance Use, which also aimed to erode the stigma and lateral violence in Indigenous communities around addiction and harm reduction. He was a co-lead consultant on developing new training for Gladue writers in BC and consulted on a pilot by BC Corrections to shift from its historic, punitive approach to a more restorative, relational one. He has engaged college and university students studying law, criminology, restorative justice, and social psychology at institutions such as SFU, UBC, KPU, UFV, Quest University, Douglas College, and Columbia College, shattering schemas and using his story to show the links between trauma and criminal justice, and why punishment inevitably fails while restorative justice offers hope. His approach is humble and relational, and his only desire is to walk with people as they find the path that meets their needs and visions.