On February 13th and 14th, Aboriginal Legal Services hosted an Indigenous Restorative Justice conference at the Courtyard Marriot Hotel in downtown Toronto. The two-day conference was sponsored by the combined team effort from Justice Canada (JC) and the Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) and hosted by Aboriginal Legal Services, Executive Director, Chantell Barker, and her dedicated team of staff, including the conference MC and Senior Manager of the Gladue Caseworker Program, Desirée Duplessis.
The conference was opened in the language with a prayer by Dorothy Peters, Traditional Teacher at Aboriginal Legal Services and in Song by Blackwolf Hart, community Knowledge Keeper and volunteer Uncle on the Giiwedin Anang Council.
With a 114-conference participant, many of whom were Indigenous Community Justice Workers and community stakeholders from all over Ontario, the conference had a feeling of being at a large family gathering.
For this reason, conference participants were assigned seats to mix up the various professionals from their colleagues to create a Web of Relations, which was a morning exercise to break the ice with all the participants at each table.
On the first day of the conference, the participants divided into 3 focus groups facilitated by
ALS staff. These groups worked through the Breaking Intergenerational Impacts exercise that uses Indigenous approaches to view the impacts of Intergenerational colonial trauma and transforming the impacts of that trauma into the reclamation and restoration of Indigenous Justice systems and wholistic outcomes. In the evening, to lighten the mood, through laughter, excitement and sharing a meal, the participants attended the Dinner and Banquet with special guest Ryan McMahon. Raffles kept participants on the edge of their seats and holding tickets tightly, hoping they would win one many of the prizes throughout the conference.
The second and final day of the conference, participants had a chance to hear about Provincial and Federal updates directly from Sharon Reynolds (MAG) and Line Laporte (JC). Throughout the day participants listened to Dorothy Peters speak about the Welcome Home program, Ryan Walsh on the Giiwedin Anang program at Aboriginal Legal Services and the Thunder Bay Indigenous Friendship Centre on Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge. At the end of the day there was a giveaway and a Star Blanket raffle, followed by a closing prayer and song from Dorothy Peters and Blackwolf Hart.
Ryan Welsh
Program Manager