Although the board of directors at Northern Restorative Justice Inc. (NRJ) remained optimistic about the future of the organization at their annual general meeting on June 23, it will be closing its doors in early November due to recruitment and retention challenges.
NRJ's main purpose was to work with the domestic violence treatment court model committee, the youth court pilot project committee and case development and restorative justice circles.
At the annual general meeting in June Kate Geiger, chairperson of NRJ, and Emily Horeck, case developer and project co-ordinator, talked about the organization's goals for the future. Geiger reported that because of efforts to recruit staff, visioning and policy development were at a standstill. Although she went on to say that the staffing problem had been solved with Horeck being hired last November, she has since left to take a full time position with Manitoba Family Services and Housing, leaving NRJ unsuccessfully trying to find a replacement.
At the meeting Horeck said that the NRJ planned to do many things this coming year, including working with the Crown's office and courts to make sure staff were aware of the restorative justice program; offer mediation training and training to facilitate community justice and domestic violence forums and traditional circles. NRJ also wanted to offer at least three training events in the year and actively recruit for volunteers.
Geiger and Horeck pointed out that this year would be a period of catch up and consolidation for NRJ as the organization attempted to recover from the neglect of activities the year before due to lack of staffing.
Despite these efforts, Horeck and Geiger released a statement on Sept. 20 saying that NRJ would be closing down.
"The board of NRJ deeply regrets this action but we cannot continue to operate without the consistent staffing that is necessary to deliver a high quality service," the release says. "We believe in restorative justice and we think that the organization that started as Thompson Mediation and then became Northern Restorative Justice has done important and valuable work in Thompson." The release also went on to thank volunteers who have helped NRJ over the years.
Horeck will continue to work part time with NRJ over the next two months to bring open cases to completion and finish other NRJ operations. No one from NRJ was available to talk to the Thompson Citizen about the issue.
