3.3.1. Reconciliation Is Not Restorative Justice

Making sure I do not advance stereotypes and further misunderstanding is important. It is critical not to conflate Indigenous law and reconciliation with restorative justice. There are some restorative justice characteristics that reflect community justice, which will be discussed. However, reconciliation is much more than that.

Fundamentally, the practice of restorative justice is carried out within the community, by the community, and specifically by those people impacted by disagreements, conflicts, and harms. So, while people practicing restorative justice essentially take back the 'practice' of justice from structures that have excluded them (the law profession, the police, the courts [37]), so too do Indigenous people practicing Indigenous justice practices (see Section 3.1). People practicing restorative justice are reclaiming conflict and its resolution, just as Indigenous people practicing Indigenous justice are reclaiming conflict from colonial state institutions and reclaiming Indigenous law and justice.

While restorative justice in mainstream Canadian institutions emerged as an appendix to the criminal justice system [38], it has evolved as a term that is interchangeable with community justice, peacemaking, or collaborative problem solving; restorative justice requires conflict to be embraced without delegating to professionals, the government, and the police; that social problems be recognized and interpersonal problems be situated within this broader context, that individuals participate actively in the resolution of conflict, and that no harm should be done to the most powerless and that the most powerless be protected [4]. Most importantly, restorative justice is about relationship building and collaborative problem solving [4].

Indigenous justice has been practiced well before Canadian restorative justice. Elder Phil Gatensby [39] describes transformational practices designed in the community that create the opportunity for participants to understand the world around them and themselves better. These practices seek to uncover resources that lie within each of us, to build an awareness of power and how to harness it to address imbalances that challenge human beings every day. In Hollow Water Manitoba, communities find their own solutions to problems, and through the process, community members recognize how they have drifted out of balance and are challenged to work towards balance that grows from their Indigenous traditions [40]. Through Gatensby's work, academic reconciliation work is enriched and Indigenous communities have been enriched.
