Organizations and Service Providers
Fostering, Empowering, Advocating Together (FEAT) for Children of Incarcerated Parents was founded in 2011 to support the needs of the over 15,000 children in the Greater Toronto Area that have a parent in the criminal justice system. FEAT offers programs for children and prison visiting support.
Project: Restore FIBI (Families Impacted By Incarceration) offers Greater Toronto Area programs and services to children with a parent in the criminal justice system, including mentoring, providing backpacks for school, and other family supports.
The Forgiveness Project (International, based in UK) works to help build a future free of conflict and violence, and empowers people to explore the nature of forgiveness and alternatives to revenge.
Leave Out ViolencE (LOVE) is an award winning, not-for-profit youth organization that promotes social change through the arts in Toronto, Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver, New York City and Tel Aviv.
Church Council on Justice and Corrections offers multi-faith and non-religious education, advocacy and community development initiatives across Canada. They foster crime prevention and social responsibility, incorporating restorative justice, circles of support and accountability for sexual offenders.
Community Justice Initiatives is a non-profit organization that started the first Restorative Justice program. CJI provides services in conflict resolution, group support for persons impacted by sexual trauma, and reintegration support for people returning to the community from prison.
Canadian Families and Corrections Network (CFCN) provides services to families (including children) facing the federal incarceration of a loved one.
Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime (Canada) ensures the federal government meets its responsibilities to victims of crime. Victims can contact the FOVC offices to learn more about their rights under federal law, the services available to them, or to make a complaint about any federal agency or federal legislation dealing with victims of crime
Office of the Correctional Investigator of Canada investigates and offers resolution to Canadian offender complaints.
Office for Victims of Crime is a permanent advisory body that provides advice to the Attorney General of Ontario on victims’ issues, including research and education on the treatment of victims in the criminal justice system and related legislation and policy.
Restorative Opportunities Program is a Correctional Services of Canada program that prepares and facilitates dialogue between victims and federally-sentenced offenders. It recognizes families of offenders as victims.
Peacebuilders is a Toronto-based non-profit organization that facilitates restorative justice and leadership opportunities for children and youth in Toronto, supports schools in their efforts to build respectful school communities and provides training and consulting locally and internationally.
Prison Fellowship International provides information, statistics and resources on world prison populations, children living in prisons or with parents in prison, victim needs and restorative justice.
Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies works with and for women and girls in the justice system.
John Howard Society of Canada represents a network of 60 organizations across Canada committed to finding just, humane, and effective responses to crime. It provides rehabilitative and reintegrative services to released male prisoners. For visitors, it also offers some bus service to jails and prisons.
Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime assists victims and survivors of crime in obtaining services and resources. It links victims with post-trial agencies such as Correctional Service of Canada and the National Parole Board, and offers information about compensation programs as well as long-term emotional support.
Aboriginal Legal Services provides information on Gladue (Aborignial Persons') Court and support services for Aboriginal people in the Toronto area.
Mennonite Central Committee Canada works with victims and offenders for restorative justice through programs like Victims' Voice and CoSA (Circles of Support and Accountability).
Indigenous Justice Program supports Canadian Indigenous community-based justice programs that offer alternatives to mainstream justice processes in appropriate circumstances.
Community Justice Initiatives British Columbia (Fraser Region) fosters peacemaking and the resolution of conflict in the community through the development and application of Restorative Justice values, principles and processes. Training and referrals available.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) Canada's largest mental health and addiction teaching hospital, as well as one of the world's leading research centres in its field. CAMH provides high quality, client-centred care to meet the diverse needs of people facing addiction and mental health challenges at different stages of their lives and illnesses-- from children to adults to seniors. Clinical services include assessment, brief interventions, inpatient/ residential programs, day hospital services, continuing care, outpatient/ambulatory services, and family support.
Addiction Resource is a US-based volunteer-run organization that focuses on providing accurate, reliable, and up-to-date information regarding substance addiction.
Together Overcoming Darkness and Despair (T.O.D.D.) is an Edmonton-area support and advocacy foundation whose mission is to reduce the shame and stigma that accompanies having a loved one in prison. This is accomplished through acknowledging the fact that a prisoners friend and family are deeply affected by their loved ones incarceration and are in need of understanding. Offers information, referrals, advocacy, a weekly support group and confidential support for those with a loved one in prison.
Mothers Offering Mutual Support (MOMS) Ottawa offers weekly meetings of peer support for women with a loved one on trial or incarcerated.
Films
Dead Man Walking, 1995. Directed by Tim Robbins and starring Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
Rabbit Hole, 2010. Directed by John Cameron Mitchell and starring Nicole Kidman. Life for a happy couple is turned upside down after their young son dies is struck by a car driven by a teenage neighbour.
Frozen River, 2008. Directed by Courtney Hunt and starring Melissa Leo. Two women - one white, one Mohawk, both single mothers faced with desperate circumstances - are drawn into the world of border smuggling across the frozen water of the St. Lawrence River.
Meeting with a Killer, 2001. Directed by Lisa F. Jackson for Court TV, this is a documentary of victim- offender dialogue in crimes of severe violence that details the journey of family members as they prepare to meet the man who murdered their daughter.
Flowers of Rwanda, 2008. Documentary exploring reconciliation between victims and offenders in post-genocide Rwanda.
Heartspeak Productions short films: “In Search of Healing Justice,” “The Reena Virk Story,” “Talking Justice,” “Awkward Conversations,” “Restorative Practice in the Classroom”.
Memoirs
Walking After Midnight: One Woman’s Journey Through Murder,Justice and Forgiveness.
Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2006.
Morris, Debbie (with Gregg Lewis)
Forgiving the Dead Man Walking
Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1998.
Prejean, Helen C.S.J.
Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty
in the United States
New York: Random House, 1993
Schoemperlen, Diane
This is Not My Life: Love, Prison and Other Complications
Toronto: Harper Collins, 2016
Schwartz, Sunny (with David Bloodell)
Dreams from the Monster Factory: A Tale of
Prison, Redemption, and One Woman’s Fight to Restore Justice to All.
New York:Scribner, 2009. Also visit
Virk, Manjit
Reena: A Father's Story
Victoria, BC: Heritage House Publishing, 2008
References
Black, D., J. Harris-Hendricks and T. Kaplan
When Father Kills Mother: Guiding Children Through Trauma and Grief
London: Routledge, 1993 (2nd Ed. 2000)
Chödrön, Pema
When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times
Boston:Shambhala Publications, Inc., 2002
Chödrön, Pema
The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult
Times
Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1997
Dussich, John P.J. and Jill Schellenberg, Editors
The Promise of Restorative Justice: New Hope for Criminal Justice and Beyond
Boulder, Colorado: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2010
Fine, Carla
No Time to Say Goodbye: Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One
New York: Broadway Books, 1997
Garbarino, James
Lost Boys: Why Our Sons Turn Violent and How We Can Save Them
New York: Random House, Inc., 1999
Hannem, Stacey
Marked by Association: Stigma, marginalisation, gender and the families of male prisoners in Canada
PhD Dissertation. Ottawa: Carleton University, 2008
James, John W. and Russell Friedman
The Grief Recovery Handbook: An Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce and Other Losses
PhD Dissertation. Ottawa: Carleton University, 2008
Levine, Peter A. with Ann Frederick
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma
Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books, 1997
Pranis, Kaye, Barry Stuart and Mark Wedge
Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community
St. Paul, Minnesota: Living Justice Press, 2003
Ross, Rupert
Return to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice
Toronto: Penguin Canada, 1996
Thich Nhat Hanh
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
New York: Bantam Books, 1991
Towes, Barb
The Little Book of Restorative Justice for People in Prison: Rebuilding the Web of Relationships
Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 2006
Withers, Lloyd
Time Together: a survival guide for families and friends visiting in Canadian federal prisons
Kingston, Ontario: CFCN (Canadian Families and Corrections Network), 2000
Yantzi, Mark
Sexual Offending and Restoration
Waterloo: Herald Press, 1998
Yoder, Carolyn
The Little Book of Trauma Healing: When Violence Strikes and Community Security is Threatened
Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 2005
Zehr, Howard
Changing Lenses: A New Focus for Crime and Justice
Scottsdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press, 2005
Zehr, Howard
The Little Book of Restorative Justice
Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 2002
Zehr, Howard
Transcending: Reflections of Crime Victims (A book of portraits and interviews)
Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 2001
Zehr, Howard
Doing Life: Reflections of Men and Women Serving Life Sentences (A book of portraits and interviews)
Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 1996
Zehr, Howard, and Lorraine StutzmanAmstutz
What Will Happen To Me? (Stories and portraits of children and youth with incarcerated parents)
Intercourse, Pennsylvania: Good Books, 2010