Restorative Justice Program looking at options

It has since appealed that decision and is waiting to set up a phone call to hear the verdict.

In the meantime, the program in Fort St. John operates with a budget of $69,000 a year, and runs on one paid employee and several volunteers. City council has approved a base budget grant of $25,000 for the group, which will likely be approved with the Operating Budget Bylaw on March 26. It has also received two $1,000 donations from Talisman Energy and Imperial Oil in the past two weeks, and a $100 personal donation, which equals about half a month of operating funds.

Co-ordinator Michelle Laboucane says the Society can now stay open until about mid-July based on its current funding. However, each donation extends that time.

"The program will stay open whether it's operating out of my basement or out of our own space. The program will stay open one way or another."

Laboucane and the Society have started looking at other funding options like becoming a social enterprise, and hosting a golf tournament. The Society will also be at the trade show, and is looking at selling memberships to the society for $10. Laboucane says she's also applied for "almost every single possible grant that's out there" from oil field companies.

Another way the community can help keep the program alive is by sending a letter to the Premier during Community Social Services Month. Residents can visit www.communitysocialservicesmatter.ca and check off which social services in their community they use (community and restorative justice for the Restorative Justice Program), and let the Premier know what services are important to them.

"It sends a message to the province that these services are being used in our community," says Laboucane. "I urge people to get on there and click those programs they use – Restorative Justice is one of them – and send that message to the province."