Restorative Engagement

From: National Defence

The Restorative Engagement program provides flexible options for members of the CAF-DND Sexual Misconduct Class Action Settlement to share about experiences, knowledge and understanding of sexual misconduct in the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces. Class members can share either directly with representatives from the institution or in other indirect ways.

These engagements are facilitated by practitioners who have experience and training in restorative approaches. It also provides opportunities to talk about the causes and impacts of sexual misconduct and to help change the culture that enables it.

Participants in restorative engagement who experienced sexual misconduct

Participants in restorative engagement who experienced sexual misconduct:

are supported to share what they are comfortable sharing
have choices about Defence representatives they engage with and how
have the opportunity to participate in activities to inform and effect change towards an institution where all people are treated with dignity and respect

Defence leadership’s commitment

Defence representatives participating in restorative engagement:

listen, acknowledge and learn from these experiences
take responsibility on behalf of the institution for the causes and responses to sexual misconduct
take action at the individual, collective and institutional levels to contribute to culture change in real time

Defence leadership commits full support to the Restorative Engagement program’s success. It commits to allocate the resources needed to acknowledge the wrongs experienced by class members and to make the necessary changes to the organizational culture and systems that contribute to or enable sexual misconduct to persist.

Restorative approach

Restorative engagement builds upon restorative approaches to justice which respond to harm in ways that foster:

inclusivity
- The views, perspectives and needs of every participant are heard, responded to and acknowledged.
accountability
- Defence representatives learn from class members’ experiences of sexual misconduct and take responsibility, individually and collectively, for its causes and responses.
collaboration
- Participants build an engagement that meets their needs and expectations collaboratively with restorative practitioners.
responsiveness
- Defence representatives and leaders react quickly and positively to address what is shared by class members.

Restorative practitioners

Restorative practitioners facilitate participants’ restorative engagement. They are specially trained and qualified to facilitate restorative processes:

that facilitate information sharing with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences with openness, compassion and curiosity
with an understanding of how trauma impacts people and how it can show up to safeguard participants from further harm