Message from the Program Coordinator - AGM 2019

CDRJS has signed another agreement with the Ministry of Safety and Solicitor General to deliver Restorative Justice in this region (Community Accountability Program). 

There has been ongoing discussion and involvement of restorative justice societies across the province as to how the government can support the commitment they have made to improving access and quality of restorative services.  I have been fortunate to have been involved in some of the discussions and will look forward to future engagement and growth.

November 2018 was an exciting month.  The Societies Registry for British Columbia brought in new expectations concerning the Constitutions and Bylaws (C/B) of not-for-profit organizations. Revisions to our C/B started in early in 2018 with an eye on the deadline at the end of November 2018.  Outside of adopting consensus as the decision-making process for CDRJS, little had been done with the C/B since they were originally filed in 2007.

Thanks to the input and direction of our Board, the task was successfully edited to reflect our current practices and goals – and submitted in a timely manner. 

EKOHDE was formed in 2002 to address and support the growth of Human Dignity and Equality.  In 2010 a network of local support agencies called the Humanity Network of the East Kootenay was formed.  The purpose of network was to determine current trends and topics for community engagement.  Over the following 9 years there have been events held on a range of subjects from Human Rights, to Equality, to Truth and Reconciliation.

Restorative practice and the work of CDRJS has been focused on restoring human dignity and equality among those who have been negatively affected by crime.  The application of those goals have been in a very practical, hands-on approach manner through providing restorative justice facilitation, training and public awareness. 

In 2018, a request was made to CDRJS to provide administrative support for the work of EKOHDE and principally the operation and coordination of the Humanity Network – public engagement supporting Human Dignity and Equality.  The Board a services contract with Amy Cross, Program Contractor for the Humanity Network and an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the retiring board of EKHODE. 

Through the work of the Humanity Network and Amy Cross, this week and the communities of the East Kootenay, will benefit from the presentations of Bob Sandford, in support of the United Nations World Water Day.

OARH groups have been established in a number of communities in British Columbia.  The intention of OARH is to provide a process of communication and collaboration between local service providers, the local RCMP and Race/Hate Crimes Unit of the RCMP.  In addition, funding is provided to develop community capacity, skills and support positive community engagement.

CDRJS continues to celebrate and support the MOU signed with KNC.  There has been some positive  collaboration during 2018 and we look forward to sharing a common path.

The City of Cranbrook has generously provided a grant again this year to support the work of CDRJS in the community. We are very grateful for this support and for the recognition that extending this grant provides.

This has been a very frustrating year and our website has been under the constant attack from acronyms.  The first of which came from the unlikely SSL.  Ever wonder why some sites have http:// while others are https://?  The difference was originally brought about by need for e-commerce – buying things on the internet meant that there need to be greater security for the eventual credit card data that would be exchanged; https:// was invented to secure that data and connection.

Our website never collected credit card information, BUT I guess that was as important has having everyone conform to a new standard.  Unfortunately, our site went down while additional support and permissions were purchased.

The next attack was PHP. The curious bit is that PHP was developed to make things easier.  An updated PHP, one would think, would be much more friendly than the previous intervention – easier than easy.  Not the case and a waiting period was inforce while easy became easier.

The end of the rant – we now have two sites up and running.  Please have a look when you get the opportunity:

cdrjsociety.ca  

humanitynetwork.ca

Your suggestions for future article on either site would be greatly appreciated.