MCC Canada Restorative Justice Program

Corporate body

MCC Canada Restorative Justice Program

• MCC Canada Offender Ministries Program
• MCC Canada Victim Offender Ministries (VOM)
• Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP)

1975 -

MCC Canada’s Restorative Justice program began with the establishment of the Offender Ministries program in 1975. Leading up to this throughout the 1960s and 1970s, provincial MCCs initiated prison visitation ministries and other offender ministries programs, which were staffed by Voluntary Service workers. The M2 (Man to Man) and W2 (Woman to Woman) programs were among the earliest Canadian MCC programs that aimed to help offenders. Other experimental programs and projects based on the work of M2 and W2, such as the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP), were developed to reconcile victims of crime and offenders. These programs were precursors to MCC Canada’s Offender Ministries national program, which began in 1975. In 1981, the program became part of the National Program Department and in 1983 was renamed Victim Offender Ministries (VOM).

Throughout the 1990s, Victim Offender Ministries developed new and innovative ways of responding to the criminal justice system. Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) began in 1994 to help reintegrate released sex offenders into society. Another initiative called the Victims’ Voice Program began in 1996 and was intended to provide victims of violence with emotional support through a national network of victims committed to advocacy and social change.

Victim Offender Ministries contributed to changes within the criminal justice system in Canada in the first twenty years of the program. By 1996, federal and provincial correctional systems had begun to fund programs related to victim offender reconciliation, mediation, prison visitation, and victims’ advocacy. In response to its success and broadening vision, the program restructured in 1997; a Restorative Justice network made up of provincial MCC Restorative Justice programs including Victim Offender Reconciliation Programs, prison visitation ministries, and Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) was established. The MCC Canada Restorative Justice Program works collaboratively with the provincial MCC Restorative Justice programs through the Restorative Justice Network. Since ca. 2007, MCC Canada’s Restorative Justice Program has also worked within the Abuse Response and Prevention Network alongside the MCC abuse response and prevention programs run by MCC British Columbia and MCC Manitoba.

MCC Canada Winnipeg Office.

Restorative Justice programs provide individuals and churches with resources on how to deal with harm and conflict, and respond to and prevent violence and sexual abuse.

Since 1981, Restorative Justice has reported to MCC Canada’s National Program Department. Prior to this, it reported directly to the MCC Canada Executive Office.

Final

Partial

Created by Jared Warkentin, March 24, 2020

Epp-Tiessen, Esther. Mennonite Central Committee in Canada: A History. Winnipeg: CMU Press, 2013.