During Monday's first meeting of City Council, there was a single proclamation to attend to.

Pamela Hamlin is the Justice Coordinator for the Restorative Justice Program Alternative Measures for the southwest, operating out of the Salvation Army in Swift Current.

She was on hand to proclaim November 29 to December 5 as Restorative Justice Week in the city, following the national week that ended on the 21st.

Restorative Justice is an approach to crime and conflict that relies on communication, healing and accountability of offenders as an alternative to traditional punishment methods.

"Restorative justice programs like ours provide a path for victims and offenders to achieve healing, reconciliation, and understanding. It is a path to creating healthier and safer communities. One conversation at a time."

As an example, Hamlin spoke of a recent altercation at a local licensed establishment.

Source: Ministry of Justice and Attorney General.

"The court process would have ended with at least one individual getting a criminal record, and the victim may not have even been aware that there were results from the court process at all. Instead, the file was referred by the Crown prosecutor to our program. The parties involved, along with the mediator, sat down, acknowledged their mistakes, and apologize to one another."

In that particular instance, the agreement that was written up included verbal and written apologies, addictions counselling and a donation to the local community youth program at The Centre.

Hamlin says that in the end, relationships are mended, further incidents are avoided and the community is better for it.

Long-serving councillor Ryan Plewis, who himself once practiced criminal defence work, echoed Hamlin's sentiments in his comments, adding that some in the community might have the wrong idea about Restorative Justice, or may believe that it's a way for an offender to get out of the serious consequences of going to court.

"It's a fair comment only insofar as it's misunderstood. I think if a person was actually a part of this process, (they) would know that this is actually a much harder process for an offender to go through than the traditional court process."

He expanded on that, saying that in a court process, an offender may or may not take responsibility for what they've done, and the court hands down consequences. Whereas in the Restorative Justice approach, an offender is actually "put through the wringer" as they're forced to look the people in the eye that they've hurt and play an active role in their own consequences.

Statistics from the province of Saskatchewan show that approximately 3,500 adult and youth cases are resolved annually in the various Restorative Justice programs in the province.