You can read my third article on Onashowewin Inc. here.
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American Thanksgiving has passed us by, Hanukah has just ended, and Christmas is coming.
I like to use the holiday season as a time to reflect to on all the things I’m thankful for.
Some of things I’m thankful for are the programs and agencies that are helping people who are in conflict with the law turn their lives around – by repairing their relationships with the victims of their crime and the community, and helping them to understand the effects of their actions. From the restorative justice agency Onashowewin Inc. in Winnipeg, to Mediation Services and their community justice forums (or family group conferences) and victim-offender mediations, there are some great programs in my city helping people.
I’m thankful for the people who so graciously let me interview them and ask them personal questions about their lives and their experience with restorative justice. It can be a very personal and emotional thing to talk about your experience being in conflict with the law and how it has effected your life.
I am proud of Renae Monkman at Just TV, and all of the other youth I met this year, who will be showcasing their work at Just TV’s Annual 2013 Showcase on Dec. 11 at the West End Cultural Centre.
I am proud of the work Onashowewin Inc. is doing with youth and adult offenders in our community.
I am amazed by the work of the volunteer mediators that do family group conferences and victim-offender mediations for Mediation Services.
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I want to thank all of the people who put me in touch with people, let me interview them, gave me advice and guidance, and supported me with my project this year.
Thanks to John Hutton at the John Howard Society of Manitoba and Kate Kehler, acting executive director at the John Howard Society of Manitoba, Dr. Andrew Woolford and Amanda Nelund at the University of Manitoba, and Megan Bowman and Jasmine Dyck from Mediation Services.
Big thanks to Laura Johnson, executive director of Just TV, and Jason Burnstick, youth facilitator at Just TV and community justice worker at Onashowewin, Cora Morgan, executive director at Onashowewin, and Heather Bristow, community justice worker at Onashowewin, as well as Richard Kennett at Mediation Services.
Special thanks to Renae Monkman for being so open, honest, and fearless when it comes to sharing her story. You are an inspiration.
A very big thank you goes out to Noah Erenberg, my editor at the Community News Commons website, because without him, my articles wouldn’t have seen the light of day, and Joanne Kelly, who put me back on the right track when I was on the wrong one, and my advisor Duncan McMonagle who re-assured me I was on the right track when I wasn’t sure I was.
And of course, thanks to all my friends (especially Adam and Meg) and my family who have supported me while I was writing my articles, and read and shared my articles with their friends. It means a lot to me.
erika miller 
I have great respect for Cora Morgan and Onashowewin. But she’s mistaken when she says:
“There’s all kinds of shades of grey that the justice system just doesn’t see …”
That’s not exactly true. It’s that there’s only so many tools available to the courts (jail/probation/conditional sentences are the big three) and not even close to enough community resources available to deviate from these options to the point judges could feel confident they’re doing their jobs as set out by the Criminal Code.
It doesn’t make sense to say the system only sees things a certain way and then talk about how files are being diverted by the system to a restorative agency.
But that said, Manitoba has a massive and expensive problem of jailing petty thieves, non-violent offenders and court-order scofflaws. Often they get sent to jail because they’re so habitual in breaking the law that the courts have simply run out of other options.