CASE STUDIES
Restorative Justice
* For image references, please scroll to the bottom of the page.
Geopolitical location of space:
851, rue De Puyjalon
Baie-Comeau, QC G5C 1N3
Extant? Yes
Architect:
Original architect unknown
Equijustice is a network offering restorative justice and community mediation through its 23 offices across Québec. According to the organization’s website, ÉquiJustice was created in 1989 under the name ROJAQ (Regroupement des organismes de justice alternative du Québec). In 2018, the non-profit organization adopted the name ÉquiJustice, making it easier for citizens to identify available services in their respective regions. Its mission is to develop justice that is equitable and accessible to all, encouraging people to get involved in managing the difficulties they may experience within the community by offering support to ensure that their rights and differences are respected.
The ÉquiJustice Haute Côte Nord office is located in Baie-Comeau (pop 28 000 approx.). Located on the north shore of the St Lawrence River, at the mouth of the Rivière Manicouagan, Baie-Comeau is 422 km northeast of Québec City. At the start of the 20th century, the area was still a huge hunting and fishing land of the Montagnais-Naskapi.
Yes. Offenders meet here with mediators and survivors.
The space is arranged for safe listening in that the table offers a view of all participants without being “too close for comfort.” The table provides a visible barrier between the offenders and survivors in a way that has been deemed reassuring by some of the participants. The frosted glass windows hinder somewhat the privacy offered by the otherwise windowless room.
The ÉquiJustice office offers services to three different segments of the community:
The offices and its services are open to the public.
The building is located on one of Baie-Comeau’s commercial arteries, rue De Puyjalon. The two-storey building is made of a combination of blue siding, yellow bricks, stone masonry, and grey metal skeletal awnings vaguely reminiscent of Baroque flying buttresses. The ÉquiJustice offices are located on the ground floor of the building, besides the offices of a land surveyor and Axor consulting.
Restorative justice rooms:
The reception displays large commercial windows facing the street. For added privacy, the windows are equipped with roll-down bamboo shades. The interior yellow walls blend with the colour of the brick outside. The floor has been finished with 12”x12” square tiles in a peanut beige colour. The space is furnished with standard office furniture, including a reception desk, credenza, table, and bistro table with stools. The suspended acoustic tiles ceiling features integrated linear flat panel lighting.
The offices are nondescript in terms of their design. In both spaces a desk faces the door and is surrounded by an upholstered office chair, a bookcase, and a storage cabinet. There are no pictures or art on the walls, which are painted a dull greyish colour. The floors are laid with a faux-wood laminate flooring. Only one of the two offices includes a guest chair, opposite the desk, which suggests that these rooms are not used for meetings or restorative justice practices.
The program rooms are where the restorative justice sessions are facilitated. In these two rooms, devoid of natural light, the floors are also covered with laminate flooring and the ceiling is outfitted with suspended acoustic tiles and flat panel lighting. Both rooms also feature the same greyish colour as the offices. What differentiates the office and the program rooms is their furnishings as one is occupied by a large conference table and upholstered chairs and the other is furnished with four red vinyl club chairs laid around a convertible coffee table.
1. Restorative justice programs (GAMP and YCJA):
ÉquiJustice believes that offenders have the potential to repair harm they have caused and rebuild the damaged relationships between members of a community. They are mandated under the laws of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA), the General Alternative Measures Program (GAMP) for adults, and the application of the Québec Code of Penal Procedure.
By promoting equitable justice, network members listen, accompany and support the parties involved in the reparation process. The restorative justice process gives everyone the opportunity to participate in an open and respectful environment.
General Alternative Measures Program (GAMP) for adults:
Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA):
2. Citizen mediation:
Citizen mediation is a service aimed at promoting conflict resolution within the community, based on communication and dialogue. It stems from the initiative of members of the ÉquiJustice network. Free and confidential, this service is accessible to all. Citizens wishing to share in an approach supervised by professionals can contact a citizen mediator.
With the exception of family law situations (separation, divorce or childcare), the following cases can be dealt with:
Mediators foster respect and verbal exchanges between the individuals involved, with the aim of enabling people to resume an active role in the resolution of their conflict.
is an author, speaker, columnist, and podcaster in the fields of architecture and decorative arts. She is completing her MA in Art History at Concordia University, Montréal, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a major in Marketing from John Molson School of Business. She studied Industrial Psychology in Los Angeles, California. Sicotte is the author of two published books on design (2015, 2018) published by Les Éditions Cardinal.
is a Colombian PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at Concordia University. She has a background in architectural design and community activism and holds a master’s degree in Building and Urban Design from the Bartlett School of Architecture in London, England. Her interests focus on socially-engaged art, social movements, collaborative activism in post-conflict scenarios, collectively-produced art, and art produced in relation to the built environment.
is a PhD candidate in Humanities at Concordia University. His research focuses on spatial agency, social aesthetics, youth narratives, and graphic representations of urban memory. He has published on the relationship between children, play, and public space in Cartagena, Colombia. He has also worked as an editor on literary projects, including Territorio Fértil, which received the María Nelly Murillo Hinestroza award for Afro-Colombian literature.
is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Architectures of Spatial Justice (Tier 2) at the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture at McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Her research interests include low-income housing and participatory design, civil protest and urban design, and campus landscapes and race. Her publications include the co-edited book, Orienting Istanbul (2010) and solo-authored book, Istanbul Open City (2018).
is an artist and a professor of Art History at Concordia University. Her work focuses on women and the history of the built environment, urban landscapes, research-creation, and oral history. She has published on the spatial history of the suffrage movement, public art, gardens, and the politics of urban change. In addition to her research on the spaces of restorative and transitional justice, she is leading an oral history project on the urban memories of diverse Montrealers.
is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University, Montreal (Quebec, Canada). He is also the second co-director of Concordia’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. His latest publications explore listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. For instance, see ‘Facilitating voicing and listening in the context of post-conflict performances of memory. The Colombian scenario.’ In: De Nardi, S., Orange, H., et al. Routledge Handbook of Memoryscapes. Routledge: London. (2019), and his article ‘Not being able to speak is torture: performing listening to painful narratives’. International Journal of Transitional Justice, Special Issue Creative Approaches to Transitional Justice: Contributions of Arts and Culture. (March, 2020)
