Feb 4, 2020
National Employment Position for Senior RJ Practitioners:
National Defence is looking for Senior Restorative Practitioners across Canada to be part of the Sexual Misconduct Response Centre’s Restorative Engagement Program.
Senior Restorative Practitioners will coordinate and facilitate direct and indirect communication about experiences of sexual misconduct between those who have been harmed and representatives of the Department of National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces. Practitioners will work with participants individually conducting ongoing assessments of safety, readiness and suitability, and preparing them for communication. Practitioners will also be required to liaise with internal and external stakeholder as well as subject matter experts, contribute to program research and reporting, and provide supervision, mentorship and leadership to other Restorative Practitioners.
Immediate needs are for temporary employment, including acting and assignment opportunities for current federal employees, for approximately one (1) or two (2) years with a possibility of extension. Permanent employment opportunities may be explored at a future date. It is anticipated that appointments will begin in September/October 2020 and there are a significant number of positions to be filled.
Of note, those who are being considered for a position will be required to successfully complete a 7-day in-classroom training. The training will teach participation how to facilitate a restorative dialogue that is trauma-informed and culturally responsive. Participants will learn the intricacies of working with people who have been harmed and caused harm, the risks and benefits of restorative practices, and tools for self-care. The training will also focus on understanding the history and environment of the military workplace. Participants will be required to engage in role plays during which they will be observed and assessed at the appropriate level.
If you are interested in this opportunity, we encourage you to apply at your earliest convenience. We would also encourage you to share this with others who may be interested as we may have upwards of 20 positions to fill. Though the closing date for applications isn’t until next year, we intend to start screening applicants in February and training in June.
For more information about the position, the qualifications, and to apply, go to https://emploisfp-psjobs.cfp-psc.gc.ca/psrs-srfp/applicant/page1800?poster=1375388.
Included at the request of:
Christine Lecompte
Restorative Justice Unit
Correctional Service Canada | Government of Canada
christine.lecompte@csc-scc.gc.ca
Tel.: 613-947-7309 Fax: 613-943-2171
340 Laurier Ave. W., Ottawa, ON K1A 0P9
Toronto Star – Penny Collenette
What is wrong with our prisons? New report reveals shocking numbers
Collenette reviews the mandatory minimums and the percentage representation found in the numbers of both Indigenous men and women incarcerated. Since 2010, with a mere 5% of the overall population in Canada, the Indigenous jail population has gone up 43.4% while the non-Indigenous has decreased by 13.7%. “More troubling is that Indigenous women represent an incredible 42 per cent of the female prison population and worse, that about 4-in-5 women are incarcerated for poverty related crimes.” https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/02/02/what-is-wrong-with-our-prisons-new-report-reveals-shocking-numbers.html Related article: CBC News – Caroline Wawzonek, the N.W.T.’s justice minister ‘We all have a part to play’: N.W.T. justice minister addresses Indigenous incarceration crisis’ – Canada’s correctional investigator called national Indigenous incarceration rates ‘a national travesty’ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/nwt-justice-minister-indigenous-rates-1.5447809
CBC News –
Peter MacKay says ‘Life Means Life’ bill punishes the most brutal killers – Bill C-53 aims to ensure some convicted killers ‘take their last breath behind bars,’ MacKay says
This link is rather old for an age of electronic speed but may bear keeping in mind when the PC leaders are questioned over their proposed policy. Some things are not going to change, and given the developing leadership aspirations for the PC’s, the sort of announcement is to be expected. Happily the discussion around the then proposed law can come early in the race and from the one who appears to be the frontrunner, for the moment. A hold-over from the Harper Tories, the life-means-life expression is proclaimed simply and emotionally but fraught with a complicated truth and buried good sense and reasoning. MacKay was Justice Minister when the Harper government introduced the Life means Life Act in 2015. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/peter-mackay-says-life-means-life-bill-punishes-the-most-brutal-killers-1.2991923 Related article: N.Y. Times (US) – Richard A. Oppel, Jr. A Cancer Patient Stole Groceries Worth $109.63. She Was Sentenced to 10 Months https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/01/us/ashley-menser-cancer-shoplifting-pennsylvania.html#click=https://t.co/mzzmxdlDdn Related article: Toronto Star – Alyshah Hasham As the prison population ages, parolees with age-related illnesses struggle to find support https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/02/03/as-the-prison-population-ages-parolees-with-age-related-illnesses-struggle-to-find-support.html
The Marshall Project (US) – Beth Schwartzapfel
What’s in a Name? New lawsuits by transgender people challenge bans on name changes for those convicted of crimes.
Transgender people who are convicted of crime in some states cannot legally change their name, complicating the hiring process when a male name goes with a female presenter. “In addition to the suit in Texas, there are federal suits pending in Wisconsin and Illinois, and a state suit in Pennsylvania, where the first court hearing is next month.” The problem is yet another example how re-entry has hidden additional punishment beyond the actual sentence. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/01/27/what-s-in-a-name Related article: Marshall Project – What’s the Meaning of “Life” When Sentencing Kids? The Supreme Court ended automatic life without parole for children. What replaces it remains unclear. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/01/30/what-s-the-meaning-of-life-when-sentencing-kids
Marshall Project (US) – Olethus Hill Jr.
Game of Phones – In a prison where 200 men share eight phones, making back-to-back calls is like challenging the guy behind you to a duel.
As the phone issue heats up in Canada around the Bell services, this link may help explain some of the context for why the issue of phone calls looms so large. The accessibility to the phone considered strictly from inside the prison has complications because of limitations of equipment and time when such access is allowed, and because the inside tensions can lead to other consequences. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020/01/30/game-of-phones
Globe and Mail – Colin Freeze and Denise Balkissoon
The climate-change generation: Meet seven young Canadians and the environmental threats they face today
Freeze and Balkissoon have interviewed seven young people agitating for greater attention to climate issues, suggesting that Canada’s young people are able, informed and capable of advocating for what they see as needed. The areas include farms, the Arctic, rising temperatures, Northern Ontario’s changing climate, water pollution and salmon decline, BC Fires, and plastics in the oceans. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-climate-change-generation-meet-seven-young-canadians-and-the/
Globe and Mail – Robert Fife
Ottawa to adopt ‘red flag’ laws to allow courts to confiscate guns from people deemed to pose a threat
The latest salvo in the gun control issue is the proposal that Canada add ‘red flag’ laws to gun ownership. These laws allow someone, a judge or police, to react to a claim that a person is at risk of hurting self or others with a gun. They have the authority to confiscate the weapon. Frequently invoked in the US because of the second amendment, the laws are difficult to enforce because people use the reporting feature without merit in personal disagreement. In Canada there is no constitutional obstacle to the restriction of assault rifles or, more importantly, handguns. Why the impasse? https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-to-adopt-red-flag-laws-to-allow-courts-to-confiscate-guns/ Related article: Toronto Star – Noah Schwartz and Bill Blair The Big Debate: Is the assault weapon buyback a misguided idea? https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/thebigdebate/2020/01/28/is-the-assault-weapon-buyback-a-misguided-idea.html Related article: Theo Moudakis (cartoon: Toronto Star – Jan 31, 2020) The Gun Threat https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorial_cartoon/2020/01/31/theo-moudakis-the-gun-threat.html
Daily Bread Food Bank –
Who’s Hungry 2019 – A Profile of Hunger in the Toronto Region
This annual report is enough to set alarm bells ringing: over one million visits to the food bank in Toronto alone this most recent year! The problem is not limited to Toronto and what is more alarming than the numbers are the other impacts. “More than half of the food bank clients who participated in our annual survey had skipped a meal to pay for a bill and 25% reported that their children go hungry at least once a month.” The ratio is now one in seven who experience food insecurity. The median income of food bank users is $807 / month but housing – a one bedroom apartment – has gone up by 6% and food itself by 7.5%. Food bank clients report spending 74% of their income on housing, choosing a place to live over food for the children. Advocates are right insisting that the problem needs an immediate human rights perspective and action. https://www.dailybread.ca/blog/whos-hungry-2019-a-profile-of-hunger-in-the-toronto-region/ Full report (40 page downloadable pdf) https://www.dailybread.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/DB-WhosHungry-2019-Final-WebLR.pdf