Students question traditional justice practices in favour of a more peaceful alternative

Waterloo students are taking action to promote dialogue on restorative justice in the Waterloo region and beyond. Restorative justice is an alternative conflict resolution method that strives to find more meaningful solutions by addressing the needs of victims, offenders, and the greater community harmed by crimes.

“The way you open restorative justice up for people is by talking about it more, creating dialogue, and educating people on how it works,” said Erin Huston, Waterloo arts student.

“But also having more people be comfortable talking about it is important so that more people can start to explore it, start to get comfortable, and it can become a much more mainstream way of approaching things,” continued Huston.

Conrad Grebel University College and the Peace and Conflict Studies department welcomed students from thirteen different schools to attend the 2018 Intercollegiate Peace Fellowship (ICPF) Conference on the topic of restorative justice from February 9 to 11. The conference was organized by a group of Waterloo arts students passionate about changing perspectives on justice.

“I joined the committee because I think conferences like this are really important and really powerful when they are led by students, for students,” said Huston, who is also one of the students on the ICPF planning committee. 

The three-day conference featured speakers on several topics including applications of restorative justice in schools, in prisons, and across cultures.

Chelsea Risser, a student from Goshen College attending the conference, took particular interest in the presentation given by Amy Smoke and Christine King from the Waterloo Aboriginal Centre.

“I think that it was a really good way to incorporate the people whose land this is and other voices that we don’t often hear while talking about restorative justice,” said Risser.

Smoke and King shared their knowledge of restorative justice in an Indigenous context and spoke about how cycles of harm and discrimination against Indigenous peoples arise in the current justice system.

“There is a lot more work when taking part in restorative justice,” said Smoke. “You have to look within yourself and your values and commit to change.”

The conference also featured a panel of Waterloo alumni who shared their experiences incorporating the restorative justice principles they learned at Waterloo in to their careers. Featured Peace and Conflict Studies Alumni included Kristina Bartold, Eric Boynton, Scott Morton Ninomiya, and Kimberlee Walker.

Boynton, who is a police officer with the Waterloo Regional Police Service, said that learning about restorative justice, “made me challenge the traditional thoughts of what justice looked like and what it could look like.”

More information about restorative justice practices can be found on the Community Justice Initiatives website.

The ICPF Conference Committee acknowledges that we are on the traditional territory of ‎ the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land promised to the Six Nations that includes ten kilometers on each side of the Grand River.