Helping northern youth resolve and manage conflict
Sudbury District Restorative Justice has been serving Greater Sudbury, Espanola, Manitoulin Island and Chapleau for nearly two decades.
It offers free programs for ages 12-17 to resolve conflict and teaches conflict management skills.
The non-profit recently received funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to pivot programming as it deals with more youth referrals.
Sudbury District Restorative Justice will use the Ontario Trillium Foundation $72,000 grant to support the hiring of program facilitators in English and French.
"It's quite interesting what they do and the amount of work they are doing to help the youth and trying to catch youth before they fall into the system," said Myles MacLeod, who is on the Ontario Trillium Foundation grant review team.
Officials said Sudbury District Restorative Justice offers alternative avenues for providing justice and offers a number of programs to help youth resolve conflict.
"The focus of the conflict management coaching programming is to get individuals who cause harm to understand their brain and behaviour and the impact that maybe individual trauma has had on them because we know that hurt people hurt people," said Jackie Balleny, executive director of Sudbury District Restorative Justice.
The organization also mediates in-person meetings to resolve conflict.
"Typically justice is like a penalty but I think the idea of having people who were affected by crime and the perpetrators get together and figure out what is a good solution so they both feel like justice has been served is a great idea," said Sudbury MPP Jamie West.
In 2020, Sudbury District Restorative Justice worked with seven clients involved with the law.
That number has now grown to more than 70 with new referrals coming from schools, community partners, police and the courts.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
'Sophisticated' cyberattacks detected on B.C. government networks, premier says
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Canucks claw out 5-4 comeback win over Oilers in Game 1
Dakota Joshua had a goal and two assists and the Vancouver Canucks scored three third-period goals to claw out a 5-4 comeback victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series Wednesday.
Nijjar murder suspect says he had Canadian study permit in immigration firm's video
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.