COMMISSIONER'S DIRECTIVE

Date:
2013-03-22

Number - Numéro:
785

RESTORATIVE OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM AND VICTIM-OFFENDER MEDIATION SERVICES

Issued under the authority of the Commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada


Policy Bulletin 391

POLICY OBJECTIVES

1. To provide a consistent approach to victim-offender mediation (VOM) services available through the Restorative Opportunities (RO) Program.

2. To support the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) staff and contracted service providers by clarifying their responsibilities when receiving a request for victim-offender mediation or any form of contact between victim and offender.

AUTHORITIES

3. Corrections and Conditional Release Act (CCRA), subsection 2(1) and sections 2.1, 23, 26, 27 and 142

Corrections and Conditional Release Regulations, section 5

Privacy Act

Access to Information Act

Witness Protection Program Act

Criminal Code

APPLICATION

4. This directive applies to all CSC staff and contracted service providers at institutions, parole offices, Community Correctional Centres and Regional Headquarters who may receive a request under this policy, as well as those responsible for coordinating referrals to the RO Program and those providing support to RO Mediators in order to meet their responsibilities.

RESPONSIBILITIES

5. The Director, Restorative Justice Division, will:

  1. ensure that processes for referral assessments and victim-offender mediation case management and supervision are in place;
  2. manage the RO case file and information;
  3. provide effective work tools and training; and
  4. ensure that issues related to safety and security are raised to the appropriate authority.

6. The RO Mediator is responsible for:

  1. ongoing assessment and case preparation;
  2. facilitating victim-offender mediation services and follow-up meetings; and
  3. raising issues related to safety and security to the appropriate authority.

7. The Regional Victim Services Manager (RVSM) and Victim Services Officers (VSO) will:

  1. direct victim referrals to the Restorative Justice Division at National Headquarters;
  2. provide victims with RO Program information and assist in establishing communication between victim(s), mediator(s) and RO Program staff; and
  3. provide RO Mediators and RO Program staff with relevant case information and access to victim file information.

8. The Manager, Assessment and Interventions (MAI), will:

  1. direct institutional referrals to the Restorative Justice Division at National Headquarters;
  2. direct victim referrals to the RVSM when the victim makes contact with an institution;
  3. provide RO Mediators and RO Program staff with relevant case information and access to offender file information; and
  4. assist with the entry of RO Mediators and participants into the institution for pre-VOM meetings and the delivery of VOM services.

9. The Parole Officer Supervisor will:

  1. direct community referrals to the Restorative Justice Division at National Headquarters;
  2. direct victim referrals to the RVSM when the victim makes contact with a parole office;
  3. provide RO Mediators and RO Program staff with relevant case information and access to offender file information; and
  4. accommodate pre-VOM meetings and the delivery of VOM services.

10. The Parole Officers, all other CSC staff and contracted service providers will:

  1. direct all requests for VOM services and communication between victim and offender to the designated MAI or Parole Officer Supervisor or equivalent;
  2. provide RO Mediators and RO Program staff with relevant case information and access to offender file information; and
  3. liaise with RO Mediators to facilitate the provision of VOM services in an effective and timely manner.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

11. Participation in the RO Program and victim-offender mediation services are not intended to have any direct impact on an offender's sentence or on parole decisions. As such:

  1. VOM services are confidential, except when the information is relevant to offender risk or to the risk of others;
  2. participant, process, and outcome information are excluded from case management files and the Offender Management System (OMS);
  3. the sharing of participant and process information requires the informed consent of the parties involved; and
  4. RO case files and related information are managed by the Restorative Justice Division at National Headquarters.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

12. Appropriate information management and information technology services and solutions will be provided to RO Mediators and RO Program staff to facilitate the secure recording, storing, and communication of RO case files, offender information, and victim information. Such services will include:

  1. access to CSC e-mail accounts to communicate offender and victim information between CSC staff and RO Mediators;
  2. access to the OMS to review offender and victim file information relevant to case referrals in order to complete case assessment and case preparation;
  3. access to the CSC network to store electronic documents; and
  4. access to a CSC database where all client and mediation case information can be stored separately from case management files and OMS files.

ENQUIRIES

13. Strategic Policy Division
National Headquarters
Email: Gen-NHQPolicy-Politi@CSC-SCC.gc.ca

Commissioner,

Original Signed by:
Don Head

ANNEX A
CROSS-REFERENCES AND DEFINITIONS

CROSS-REFERENCES

CD 225 - Information Technology Security

CD 226 - Use of Electronic Ressources

CD 701 - Information Sharing

CD 784 - Information Sharing Between Victims and the Correctional Service of Canada

Canadian Statement of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime

DEFINITIONS

Community referral: a means for CSC staff to communicate a conditionally released offender's request to initiate communication with the victim through a victim-offender mediation process.

Institutional referral: a means for CSC staff to communicate an offender's request to initiate communication with the victim through a victim-offender mediation process.

Restorative Opportunities (RO): a CSC program based on restorative justice principles and values such as accountability, inclusiveness, honesty, and empathy. RO provides victims, offenders and community members with an opportunity to address the harms caused by crime through victim-offender mediation services. Participation in the RO Program is voluntary on the part of all participants.

RO Mediators: community-based mediators specialized in working with participants affected by serious crime. They are employed by CSC on a casual basis and renewed annually (except in the Pacific region whereby mediators are provided through a service contract).

Victim-offender mediation (VOM): a communication and mediation process that uses, but is not limited to, letter exchange, video recording exchange, face to face meetings, and group conferencing.

Victim referral: a means to communicate/initiate a request on behalf of a victim to enter into communication with the offender who caused him or her harm, through a victim-offender mediation process.