Mennonite Central Committee Ontario’s concern with justice in the correctional system dates back at least to 1967. In 1974, Dave Worth and Mark Yantzi proposed a pilot project in Waterloo Region to facilitate reconciliation between victims and offenders. The development of the project was spurred by the “Elmira Case” in May 1974, in which a judge ordered two young men guilty of vandalism to make restitution directly to their victims. Yantzi and Worth were directed by the court to oversee the reconciliation process. More cases soon followed and MCC Ontario’s Victim Offender Reconciliation Project (VORP) was formed. Over the years, the program grew, changed and expanded into other areas of Restorative Justice. These groundbreaking events are documented and available in the MCC Ontario collection in the Mennonite Archives of Ontario.
