Author of case study: Vanessa Sicotte

Geopolitical location of space:
583 Ellice Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba

Extant? Yes

Timeframe of RJ/TJ process in this space:

The John Howard Society of Manitoba has been serving the community for over fifty years.

Background information:

According to their website, the John Howard Society of Manitoba offers programs and resources based on the principles of restorative justice to individual at various stages of involvement with the justice system. The organisation works primarily with men (18 and over), who have been or may be incarcerated, their families, victims of crime, and the community to address the root causes of crime. Their goal is to support individuals through judicial processes, and if found guilty, to encourage them to take responsibility and be held accountable for the harm their actions have caused (not just to the victims and the community, but to themselves as well).

Is restorative and/or transitional justice actually taking place in this space?

The John Howard Society of Manitoba, housed in a 3-storey building, is a vertically integrated site for restorative and transitional justice. Men are greeted and welcomed on the first floor, there is a Community Residential Facility (halfway house) on the second floor for men coming out of incarceration, and the third floor is dedicated to the institute’s restorative and healing programs.

Perpetrators meet in groups with two facilitators. There are no victims/survivors present during these circle practices, although the perpetrators are often victims themselves having survived childhood trauma, foster care, or child displacement.

Is this space designed/arranged for safe listening?

The facilitators have modified and adapted a colonial-settler 1909 building to meet participants’ healing and restorative needs. The program rooms have been blessed by an elder and there is a star blanket in one of the rooms. As such, the spaces are designed for safe listening and healing.

Victims/survivors and offenders never meet face-to-face at the John Howard Institute. The victims are at the centre of the offenders’ healing program; they are the people towards which the healing is directed, but they are not physically present. Also, the circle concept is conducive to active listening as the circle removes any hierarchy or exclusion that could hinder the restorative process.

Who is the audience/the intended participants for this space?

The John Howard Society of Manitoba is a non-profit organisation that primarily works with men (18+) who have been or may be incarcerated. These men, in conflict with the law, come from of all backgrounds, but it is mostly an Indigenous (status, non-status, Métis, and others) masculine population that frequents the site. There is no limitation or proscription in terms of the crimes committed that prevent people from participating in the organisation’s programs.

How or to what extent is this space public?

The building is privately owned, purchased by the organisation in 1992, but the services offered are open to the general public.

Physical/factual description of space:

The John Howard Society of Manitoba is located in the center of Winnipeg on the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene Peoples. The city has 749,534 inhabitants (census 2017) and is located south of Lake Winnipeg.

The building:
Located on a commercial street in the heart of Winnipeg’s city core, the John Howard Society building is historical. According to the website, Winnipeg Downtown Places, it was built in 1909 (architect unknown) and first housed “the Security Storage and Warehouse Company, which was created in February 1909 by Irving M. Winslow, a native of Bloomington, Illinois. […] By November 1909 the exterior of the $20,000 building was complete. The building opened on January 15, 1910. […] In 1991 the John Howard Society of Manitoba moved in, initially taking up the main floor.” They eventually bought the building and named it the Justice Resource Centre. In 2012 it was renovated and renamed the John Howard Society Building. The 3-storey building’s exterior is made of bricks, painted on two sides with murals of Indigenous motifs and life. Its interior spaces are used for community-based restorative justice practices.

The restorative justice rooms:
1. The “program room” used for restorative justice purposes is located on the third floor of the building. It is carpeted with commercial grade low pile wall-to-wall carpet and the room benefits from natural light from one window. To facilitate the society’s preferred circle format, the space is furnished with numerous cobalt blue upholstered chairs with metal tubing structures. The room also has a table used to accommodate a coffee machine and snacks. Posters of animals with written words such as trust, respect, wisdom, truth and love are hung above the food station. Beside the window are two yellow dream catchers affixed to a cobalt blue painted wall.

2. The “healing room” is also located on the third floor of the building. A star blanket hangs on its blue brick wall. These blankets were presented to loved ones, to honour young braves, and praise warriors returning from a successful hunt. Star blanket are also often used on vision quests, during a smudge, or in a sweat lodge. Cobalt blue upholstered chairs furnish the carpeted room. Sharon Perrault, acting executive director, noted that the room’s HVAC system has been modified to provide sufficient ventilation for smudging and other ceremonies involving smoke.

Analytical description of space:

The Indigenous practices and ceremonies held within the organisation’s walls are not easily adapted to the colonial-settler architecture of the building. The site lacks any green outdoor space conducive to a sweat lodge or any other form of gathering, thereby limiting the restorative and healing practices to the confines of the interior space of the building.

That said, the John Howard Society of Manitoba offers a number of targeted services to the community:

1. End of Aggression: This program is designed to help participants avoid further aggressive behaviour by helping them understand how their thoughts affect the way they feel, and ultimately, how they influence their actions. This program consists of ten 3-hour long group sessions.

2. Healthy Relationships: This program provides information to its participants about healthy relationships, healthy and unhealthy behaviour within relationships, and tools to promote behavioural change. This is an informational program and not a treatment option. This program consists of two 3-hour long group sessions.

3. Coming to Terms: This program assists participants in evaluating their use of alcohol and other drugs, and the consequences that it may pose on their lives, as well as the lives around them. It aims to develop self-awareness and progression through the Stages of Change. This program consists of ten 2-hour long group sessions, held twice a week for five weeks. This course is information-based only, not a drug treatment program.

4. Triple P: This is a prevention-oriented program that aims to promote positive, caring relationships between parents and their children, and to help parents develop effective management strategies for dealing with a variety of childhood behavioural, emotional and developmental issues. This program consists of four 3-hour long group sessions.

5. Healing Program for Indigenous men: This program is created for men who have experienced childhood sexual abuse and trauma: sexual contact of any sort, sexual threats, witnessing sexual acts or forced to listen to sexual acts of others, and/or made to watch or participate in pornography. The program gives men the opportunity to attend a series of fourteen closed group sessions, develop an individualised case plan and receive follow-up support. The program model includes Indigenous Elder services to cultivate and build on strength, courage and healing from a traditional and cultural perspective.