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Our longest standing board member Dr. Brenda Morrison, Associate Professor of Criminology at SFU, shares her thoughts on NSRJ and how it embodies the best of community.

The Strength of Community 

So much to be grateful for as we celebrate 25 years of service to our community at North Shore Restorative Justice.  We are SO excited for the next 25 years!!  We have been held strong by community and strengthened the fabric of community, in so many ways.  We have woven a beautiful landscape of possibility, rich in colour, texture and hope, as the voices of participants, volunteers and staff have empowered each other.  

As I reflect on the first 25 years, three core strands of capital have woven their way together.

Our social capital: Relationships – the heart of social capital - are core to the work of restorative justice.  Building on the strength of relationships over 25 years, we have grown from a single program, with a part-time facilitator, serving as a police diversion program in North Vancouver.  Today, we serve a much broader landscape of our community, working with schools, along with police, courts, First Nations and many fellow service providers – mental health to new immigrants.  And we now serve the Sea to Sky Corridor - Deep Cove to Squamish.  We are grateful to the deep fabric of our community partners. 

Our fiscal capital: We started with a small provincial community grant of $2K.  Today, our budget is over $500K, with heartfelt thanks to local, provincial and federal governments; local businesses; foundations; universities and generous members of our community.   Through thoughtful financial stewardship, and a gem of a board treasurer, we now have 7 staff (along with 30 amazing community volunteers) serving the North Shore.  And we are proudly the largest, of about 60, restorative justice societies in British Columbia.

Our human capital:  This is our great gift to our community, nurturing human capital – our human potential; whereby each, and every, person that we work with is held strong with dignity and respect.  Our vision is for each person to be their best self, grounded through our values of respect, trust, sharing, humility, compassion, inclusivity and forgiveness.  We want everyone to flourish and lead a good and health life, out of harms way.  That what we do: we teach to, and respond to, repairing harm and nurturing health relationships.  

Here's to the next 25 years!