CRIM 3151: Aboriginal Restorative Justice

After successfully completing this course, you will be able to:

• Describe elements of Indigenous worldviews.
• Assess victimization and offending as it relates to historic and contemporary colonization, residential school impacts, systemic and institutional racism, and colonial policies.
• Analyze the points of intersection and divergence between Indigenous justice, restorative justice and the Canadian criminal justice system.
• Critically evaluate the morality and efficacy of punishment as a response to harm.
• Compare and contrast restorative, retributive, and rehabilitative justice approaches.
• Evaluate culturally relevant crime prevention and healing initiatives by and for Indigenous and non- Indigenous people.
• Analyze Indigenous and restorative justice practices utilizing the lenses of shame and trauma.
• Compare and contrast settler and Indigenous justice, considering what generalizations can and cannot be reasonably made.
• Report findings from information obtained from knowledgeable Indigenous or restorative justice field sources.
• Provide feedback to community members and justice practitioners about the meaning and application of Indigenous and Restorative Justice.

CRIM 3151: Aboriginal Restorative Justice includes the following 12 modules:

• Module 1: Introduction to Indigenous Perspectives in Canada--Traditional Teachings and Ideologies
• Module 2: Colonialism, the Indian Act, Assimilation, Residential Schools, and Intergenerational Trauma
• Module 3: Aboriginal Overrepresentation--Explanations and Experiences with the Criminal "Justice" System
• Module 4: Criminal Justice in Contemporary Society
• Module 5: Deconstructing Punishment--Theory, Practice, and Ethics
• Module 6: Justice as Healing--Contrasting Retributive, Rehabilitative, and Restorative Approaches
• Module 7: Restorative Justice Theory and Practice
• Module 8: Shame
• Module 9: Trauma
• Module 10: Indigenous and Restorative Justice within Law Enforcement and the Courts
• Module 11: Indigenous and Restorative Justice within Corrections
• Module 12: Aboriginal and Restorative Justice as Community Development and Crime Prevention

The following textbooks are required for this course:

1. Monchalin, L. The colonial problem: An Indigenous perspective on crime and injustice in Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2016.
   Type: ISBN: 978-1-4426-0662-3

2. Elliott, E. M. Security with care: Restorative justice & healthy societies. Black Point, NS: Fernwood Publishing, 2011.
   Type: ISBN: 978-1-55266-425-4

3. LaBoucane-Benson, P., & Mellings, K. The outside circle: A graphic novel. Toronto, ON: House of Anansi Press, 2015.
   Type: ISBN: 978-1-77089-937-7

Upon registration you will be provided with a list of additional resources used in this course.

To successfully complete this course, students must achieve a passing grade of 50% or higher on the overall course, and 50% or higher on the mandatory Final Project.

* Mandatory

An Open Learning Faculty Member is available to assist students. Students will receive the necessary contact information at the start of the course.