Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Chatterjee, Jharna. RCMP's Restorative Justice Initiative

With the aim of pursuing policing within a restorative justice framework, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have chosen the Community Justice Forum (CJF) as a discretionary option for performing their policing duties. This initiative has expanded across Canada through workshops conducted by the RCMP in 1997. Chatterjee explains the concept of restorative justice, connects the CJF initiative with the RCMP’s already formulated commitment to community policing, and reports on evaluated outcomes of the RCMP’s use of Community Justice Forums.

Zanin, Brenda. Speaking with one voice: RCMP launches initiative to help Community Justice Forums share experiences

Community justice forums function as an alternative to traditional courts. According to Brenda Zanin, an increasing number of offenses in Canada are being addressed through such forums. This restorative justice approach fits well within the community policing philosophy of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). In fact the RCMP has held many meetings across Canada to foster and improve community justice forums. Zanin reports on the RCMP’s efforts to encourage and implement community justice forums in communities and in the police force.

Macaulay, Lawrence. Strengthening the Capacity of the RCMP

Solicitor General of Canada, Lawrence Macaulay discusses in this presentation the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s initiative in applying restorative justice. This initiative builds upon the RCMP’s leadership in implementing a community policing model. This is seen particularly in the RCMP’s Community Justice Forums. A concrete means to involve the community in restorative justice solutions, a community justice forum is a safe, controlled environment where an offender, victim, and their families or supporters are brought together under the guidance of a facilitator. Macaulay highlights the forward-looking vision and practice of the RCMP with respect to restorative justice, and he details ways in which the federal government in Canada is strengthening the capacity of the RCMP to fulfill its policing role at local, provincial, and national levels in Canada.

Deukmedjian, John Edward. Rise and Fall of RCMP Community Justice Forums: Restorative Justice and Public Safety Interoperability in Canada.

This paper argues that the rise and subsequent decline of restorative justice programs is a function of the program's theoretical and procedural alignment with shifting strategies of national governance. It is noted that this raises a question about the role of restorative forums in Canadian governance. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) executives and the Canadian government promoted community justice forums (CJFs) in the form of family group conferences in the late 1990s, and did so because CJFs offered a process consistent with the national community-policing strategy. Additionally, when this strategy changed to intelligence-led policing and public safety interoperability, executives cut their support for the program. The article opines that if such programs are to remain desirable, multiagency forums (police, public schools, child welfare, and immigration) may well align with the nascent governmental framework of public safety interoperability. The paper also considers another possibility and discusses non-state local peacemaking forums. The conclusion of the work discusses potential benefits and limits of these possibilities and also offers general theoretical observations on the role of alignment in governmental programming. (Abstract courtesy of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.gov).

BC gang activity wilting under police heat

from the article by Robert Freeman in the Chilliwak Progress: Gang activity in B.C. has wilted under the heat of Lower Mainland police forces, including the Chilliwack RCMP, says UFV criminologist Darryl Plecas. While the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit has put a “significant dent” in gang leadership, according to CFSEU spokesman Sgt. Bill Whelan, Plecas said “proactive” policing by municipal police forces like those in Chilliwack, Abbotsford and West Vancouver has given new recruits second thoughts about the gang lifestyle.

Shaw, Margaret and Jané, Frederick. Restorative Justice And Policing In Canada: Bringing The Community Into Focus

A widespread movement to develop alternative ways of delivering justice in society is taking place across a broad range of countries. Most commonly referred to as Restorative Justice, or Community Justice, the movement has recently become the subject of increasing interest from governments and sectors of the justice system, including the police. Canada has been well represented in the development of restorative justice in terms of past practice and recent innovation. As part of the re-orientation of policing to community policing, the RCMP and the OPP as well as other police forces and components of the Canadian justice system have recently begun to embrace a much more active role in restorative justice. As key components of the justice system, the police have a central gate-keeping role through their exercise of discretionary decision-making. For many the current justice system is seen as failing to reduce crime and to attend to the needs of victims, offenders or the community, but while many claims have been made about the ability of restorative justice to address these issues, there has also been criticism about its limitations, and concern about the wholesale adoption of restorative practices particularly by the police. The purpose of this report is to set these initiatives in the context of the development of restorative justice practices in Canada and elsewhere. It considers the historical development of restorative justice ideas, the underlying philosophy and goals of the movement and the characteristics of the main practices; the development of restorative practices in Canada and current initiatives; the benefits and limitations of restorative justice; and some of the wider issues concerning the role of the police in the use of restorative justice, particularly at the pre-charge stage. (excerpt)