Here for change
Shila (Shy-la, she/her pronouns) looked around and realized that despite all our formal systems and processes, few of us sincerely repair our relationships when conflict naturally arises. Justice is hard to find. Realizing that restorative approaches should extend beyond a tiny corner in the justice system, Restorative Approach was born.
Shila is a queer settler, a treaty land inhabitant, and a strong listener, facilitator, and communicator. She has worked directly with her community in a wide range of roles. She is certified in Dialogue for Peaceful Change, an internationally recognized mediation and peace-building process. She has worked as a caseworker for restorative justice, as an investigator with the NS Human Rights Commission, and has a long history of interesting contract work. After growing increasingly frustrated by legal processes that didn’t help, Shila launched Restorative Approach in 2021, a true culmination of her passions. Shila is a fierce believer in restorative conversations and strives to embody a restorative approach in every area of her life. She has seen firsthand how valuable restorative discussions are in connecting and repairing relationships and believes that focusing on the quality of our relationships is the greatest antidote to the issues we face today: polarization, disconnection, and injustice on a macro scale. If we can take the time to care for each other, Shila believes our world will transform.
She is also an avid community volunteer and organizer, always working on something, and loves facilitating youth projects. Her professional interests include restorative justice, restorative approaches, reconciliation and treaty history, harm reduction, asset-based community development, labour organizing and grassroots justice.
On the personal side, Shila is a huge dog lover, a polar dipper, a yogi, a meditator, a singer, and a deeply social person.
Shila LeBlanc (she/her): restorative practitioners, founder, owner of Restorative Approach.