Northern Restorative Justice Inc. (NRJ) held its annual general meeting on June 23 in Thompson.
During the meeting Kate Geiger, chairperson of NRJ, and Emily Horeck, case developer and project co-ordinator, reported to the board of directors about how the 2008-09 year went for NRJ and NRJ's goals for this year.
In her chairperson's report, Geiger points out how challenging the past year was for NRJ with the search for staff members - two of whom were hired and resigned almost immediately. She says because of this, visioning and policy development work was put on the backburner so the board could address the lack of staffing. Geiger was happy to report, however, that the staff shortage problem has been solved with the hiring of Horeck in November and administrative assistant Gina Beebe in May.
Horeck's report clearly defined what NRJ has been working on in the last year. She says the organization has continued to work with the domestic violence treatment court model committee and has remained involved with the youth court pilot project committee, who is circulating a draft model to receive review and feedback from stakeholders. During the past year NRJ was also involved in case development and restorative justice circles, and starting sharing office space with Men Are Part of the Solution (MAPS), an organization that provides counseling for men wanting to develop healthy relationship skills.
Horeck also pointed out the main things NRJ wants to work on this year, including continuing to work with the Crown's office and the courts to make sure staff are aware of the restorative justice program and to offer mediation training and training to facilitate community justice and domestic violence forums and traditional circles. NRJ plans to offer at least three training events in the coming year. They will also be actively recruiting volunteers.
One roadblock the NRJ has come to face is the inability to accept domestic violence referrals, due to the fact that the family counsellor at the Burntwood Community Health Resource Centre has had an eight-month waiting list in the past. NRJ is currently exploring options for clients to receive counselling and is seeking Crown approval to utilize other counsellors and to use the MAPS educational program for this component of the restorative justice domestic violence process.
Both Geiger and Horeck explained that this year will be a period of catch up and consolidation for NRJ as the organization recovers from the neglect of activities last year due to short staffing. NRJ will also be focused on finding increased financial resources and the stabilization of human resources.During her presentation Horeck outlined some of NRJ's statistics. In youth, adult, domestic violence and community referrals, 53 cases were completed successfully. Thirty-one were carried forward from 2007-06, and there were 48 new referrals with 88 total closed cases. Sixteen cases were referred back to the Crown, and another 16 were carried over into the 2009-10 year.
NRJ's net assets at are budgeted at $8,614. They receive a total of $60,813 from the Province of Manitoba, donations and fundraising, training revenues, rent and interest and other revenues. Operating expenditures are $60,820 including staff costs, volunteer development, office program expenses, program development and delivery, administration and equipment and furnishings.
During NRJ's annual meeting new board members were also elected, including Holly Burke, Jon Robbins and Jillian Brown, articling students who will eventually become lawyers; Debbie Asham, a probation worker who deals with youth 12 and under; and Michael Spence, a social worker who will be starting work with MAPS soon.
