Chaplaincy Services

National Chaplains' Conference Declaration 1991

Celebrating Our Mission Restorative Justice

Conference Declaration

Having gathered together to celebrate and learn together, we wish to give expression to our deepening understanding of restorative justice: of reconciliation, restoration, healing and shalom. Faced with a concept, which is also a calling, which is so simple as to be common sense and yet is so profound in its implications (like love of God and neighbour), we feel that we have only begun to grasp its significance.

Personal Implications

As we listened to one another's stories we identified with common sorrows and joys, learning through examples the difficult process and the happy consequences of restorative justice.

As the ceramic swan dropped to the floor during one of our worship services, we realized our need to lament those times when our own world crashed around and within us.

As we acknowledged how deeply we were affected by what we heard and experienced, we came to realize that restorative justice is deeply personal, affecting our attitudes and our way of life.

As we faced our own violence, anger and feelings of revenge, we came to realize that even in our talk about restorative justice we needed to be restorative in relationship to one another.

Enriched by such honesty, we continue to move forward with both struggle and hope.

Continuity with 1989

We recognize the ongoing validity of the five principles included in the 1989 Final Declaration; namely:

1. Each person is created in the image of God which nothing can change. "Each person is a sacred story."

2. Evil is a reality. Each person is capable of destructive behaviour, even if this seems in contradiction with their creative potential based on the image of God in them.

3. The full biblical concept of justice is the core of Chaplaincy ministry.

4. There is always the possibility of reconciliation: within oneself, between persons, and between groups in society. Chaplaincy is committed to activating this dynamic of reconciliation within the CSC.

5. Chaplaincy is committed to a role of service in its relationship both to the powerful and to the powerless.

Affirmations

We affirm:

• that restorative justice has deep historical roots within our various faith traditions.
• the importance and value of telling our stories, both of pain and of healing, as a way of encouraging and supporting one another.
• that restorative justice leads from brokenness to forgiveness. It enables people to bring closure to past wounds and move on to new life. When fullness of life is restored to the parties wounded by crime, it is a gift of grace.
• that restorative justice is a way of life which permeates all our work. It is not in itself a program, though it may have program consequences. It cannot be legislated, yet legislation may foster or hinder its realization. It is like the hope for which we are called to give account. (cf. I Peter 3:15)
• the demands that restorative justice includes care for the whole of creation. Justice leads to peace and the integrity of creation. The Aboriginal people teach us about the links between justice and the environment.

The Challenge

Restorative justice challenges its followers:

• to rediscover the tradition of biblical justice and bring fresh insights to new situations.
• to live its principles within a system which still retains many elements of retribution, and thus embody the Mission of the Correctional Service of Canada.
• to be creative and just in evaluating its effectiveness. When can a problem be put behind us?
• to integrate its principles fully in personal living and to understand its wide application.

Messages

To Victims

• Your dignity demands honest recognition of your pain as an important starting point in your journey from being victims to being survivors, to having an identity ever less defined by the crimes which shattered your lives.
• In deep respect for your needs, we wish to support you in this journey and in particular in making the decision to move from brokenness to restoration.
• As you see a place for offenders in your healing process, we wish to do our part in preparing for a mutually empowering encounter.

To Offenders

• Because you are much greater than your offence, your human dignity carries with it the capacity and desire to repair the consequences of your crime in ways not satisfied by serving a sentence.
• To see justice done, you deserve the right to be listened to and to make your own suggestions for repairing the brokenness resulting from the crime you committed. We know that you, too, in many respects, have been victims.

To Communities of Faith

• In the name of a true, active and personal justice we urge you to be open to processes which will lead to restoration of relationships between people locked in conflict.
• In the name of the best in your tradition calling people to restorative justice, we urge you to sensitize your communities to this authentic form of saving justice for victims, for offenders and for all your people.

To the Correctional Service of Canada

• We encourage dialogue on the implications of restorative justice for the implementation off the CSC Mission statement.
• Restorative justice is more than a program. Do not hesitate to risk supporting programs which embody restorative justice, realizing that programs alone so not fulfil the paradigm.

To One Another

• Let us model restorative justice as we deal with misunderstandings and hurt among ourselves.
• Let us encourage the media to present the stories and realities of restorative justice.
• Let us not grow weary of seeking solutions to difficult human problems.