Welcome, Restorative Justice Champions

What is VIRRJA?

Vancouver Island Region Restorative Justice Association (VIRRJA) is an association of Restorative Justice programs throughout Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Gulf Islands.

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EXISTING MEMBERS

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Restorative justice is
a way of thinking about
harm and healing

All of us cause harm and experience harm at some point in our lives. In our punitive culture the solutions offered often rely on the criminal legal system to evaluate and adjudicate harms. Yet many harms are not crimes and many crimes are not necessarily harmful. But we know that harm demands a response.

How might we more effectively respond to harms in our communities? We can begin by using restorative approaches.

“Restorative Justice (RJ) is a process to involve, to the extent possible, those who have a stake in a specific offense and to collectively identify and address harms, needs and obligations, in order to heal and put things as right as possible.”Howard Zehr, “Little Book of Restorative Justice”

Home: Welcome

Our Values

We are community members who are passionately committed to embodying RJ practices. We lead with humility and ensure that we are:

Collaborative

Courageous

Equitable

Inclusive

Empowering

Explore our Resources

We've put together a site map, so you can find what you are looking for as quickly as possible. And please don't hesitate to reach out if you don't find the answer to your question.

Areas of Service Delivery

VIRRJA strives to provide leadership and value to member in the following areas:

Education

VIRRJA hosts Restorative Justice conferences and sources educational speakers for each of our Members meetings. VIRRJA membership meets bi-monthly. The Members meeting is held in October with General meetings held in November, February, April and June.

Advocacy

There is a long way to go to fully incorporate Restorative Justice into our systems and communities, and VIRRJA is committed to pushing this forward.

VIRRJA advocates for the increased role of Restorative Justice in our justice systems. This includes, but is not limited to working with Crown Council, municipal and provincial government and provincial agencies to advance the role and understanding of RJ in our province.