First, it is important to acknowledge the Indigenous roots of restorative approaches

Settlers are not the ones who created restorative methods and it is vital that settlers working in this way take the time to recognize and appreciate the Indigenous foundations of these methods. Indigenous communities have used relational ways of knowing and healing for millennia and it is only in recent history that settlers have adopted and adapted this framework. This expansion is in part because settler processes have not been particularly helpful in the area of healing.

In fact, many of the restorative processes and programs we see today were explicitly created by and with the support of Indigenous folks. Many Indigenous communities have generously supported the creation of grassroots restorative justice programs, for example, as a direct response to the disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous Peoples in the colonial justice system. We must recognize the significance of these offerings in light of the dark history of colonization that we all share.

In Nova Scotia, Mi’kmaw communities continue this tradition of generosity and knowledge-sharing today. While Indigenous communities have approaches and traditions as unique as the nations themselves, there are common threads across the globe showing that Indigenous communities focus not on isolation and punishment (as settlers tend to do) and instead on healing and connection with one another. Indigenous communities centre relationships - our relationships to ourselves, each other, and the earth.

Do you know the Nations, treaties, and languages of your territory? Learn more about this here.

Restorative Approach is grateful to Indigenous communities for their continued ingenuity, resilience, and resistance. Our work mostly happens in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) on the unceded (never surrendered) ancestral lands of the Mi’kmaw and Maliseet Peoples. This must never be forgotten, for our richness and wealth is thanks to the land we call home. We are all treaty people.