Montreal North restorative justice pilot project hoping to help more youth

Fredy Villanueva’s shooting in Montreal North in 2008 led to the creation of the community group Hoodstock as a way to bridge the gaps between youth, the community and the justice system.

Staff there say over the years, one thing became clear.

“There was a larger amount of Black people being charged or having to go through the criminal justice system,” explained Brandon Dawson-Jarvis.

He’s part of an initiative that Hoodstock started, aimed at reducing the number of incarcerated Black people.  The three-year pilot project, called Hoodstock Justice, was started in 2022  and is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada. It’s a restorative justice endeavour meant to create an alternative to jailtime and falls under the auspices of the province’s General Alternative Measures Program for Adults.

For the Hoodstock project, people over 18 are referred by the Crown prosecutor’s office.

“People who are Black, eligible to participate in the project, want to participate and have admitted that they committed the infraction are admissible to participate,” explained project manager Nancy Zagbayou.

The pilot project covers people in northern Montreal. If the candidate is accepted, the seven-month programme begins and includes a variety of workshops, including ones on Black cultures.  The workshops are meant, among other things, to build self-esteem.

After that the offender takes part in gatherings with Hoodstock staff as well as with members of the community.

“Help the person who committed the crime figure out how they will repay the wrong,” Zagbayou pointed out.

The victim can also participate if they choose. Staff point out that so far, 22 people have completed the program and have had their charges dropped.

But funding for the pilot project runs out next spring. Hoodstock wants the initiative to continue and expand to the rest of the city and province, so they’re urgently looking for funding.

Those who support the project argue that it’s valuable, particularly for racialized youth including ones who are profiled by police and charged with simple crimes as a result, and end up with a criminal record.

Svens Telemaque, part of the project’s committee of ex-offenders, responsible for providing ex-offenders as mentors for project participants, argues that youth who get a criminal record end up with limited options.

“What hope does that give you? Doesn’t that kind of like push you towards crime if at 18, 19 you can’t get a job because of a mistake you made?” he asked rhetorically.

He and others stress that such a program benefits the whole society in the end.