Image removed.Wade Gardner

Wade Gardner has an undergraduate film degree from the University of Colorado with an emphasis was writing and directing. Mr. Gardner also attended CU where he earned his MBA IN 2011. He is the owner, and teaching instructor at the Artful Journey school of fine art. His post film school credits include a short documentary film about the Colorado gay rodeo, "Beers, Steers, and Queers". He also co-created, co-wrote, and co-produced "The Pitch", a 20 episode animation series created exclusively for for the Starz movie channel. "Marvin Booker Was Murdered", is his first feature length film. In addition to directing the film, he also wrote, produced, and edited it. After completing the project, he was excited to discover how important it is to have an outreach and impact strategy in place. He found that crafting, and executing on that plan is as important as creating and producing the film.
In addition to teaching art, his other interests include going out to listen to live music, especially at smaller clubs and dive bars, chilling out, and drinking craft beer.

 

 

 

 

Image removed.Michael C. Joseph, MES

Identifying first as a humanitarian, then as a musician with a social and environmental conscience who loves creating media arts using audio, photography, film and television productions. I started out in the seventies writing songs then having them translated into Yoruba language and recorded on vinyl, “Let’s Sing and Dance”. I also wrote a short story about Agnes; a young radical girl who chose black-activism as her life’s expression. During the writing I was invited to join a theatre group for the stage and television production, “The Master of Carnival”, which led me to do a bit part in the movie, BIM, a Trinidad and Tobago feature. Moving to Canada in the mid-eighties, I took an audio engineering course and simultaneously began shooting the music video for my composition “Say a Prayer”. Video captivated me and so I moved from music production to video production. During the next few years I produced seminars video, wedding videos, conventions videos with production budgets from $1,500 in to $85,000 until the big change from SDTV to HDTV.

I could not live without creating visual art so I took up photography and fully expressed it during my trip to Kenya in 2007. My creativity flourished while developing, coordinating and teaching digital media productions at summer camps, churches and during my job as a graduate assistant at York University, supporting the activist filmmaking course.

In the interim, I switched careers and became a community social service worker focusing on new immigrants, refugees and the general homeless population; this is where my life’s satisfaction and pursuit for social justice through environmental justice led me to a better understanding of restorative justice.  

As a humanitarian/artist, the quest for restorative justice positions me to seek equity for individuals and families whose stories have impacted me during my social services work and so I remain committed to life as an independent film and television producer in my community. Drawing on my masters in environmental studies, the graduate diploma in environmental sustainability education, my other diplomas as a social services worker, audio, film and television productions and the developing work of EnviroMedia my independent production company; gives me the media for the voices of those who would like to join me in telling stories through the environment, art for restoring the balance for humanity.

www.ese4steelpan.tv

Image removed.Jenna Bata

Jenna Bata is a Mediator for the Ministry of the Attorney General and is a CEDR (Center for Effective Dispute Resolution - UK) Accredited Mediator, trainer and master trainer with a background in Law (LL.B), Business (MBA). She is also trained in interpersonal and transformative mediation and circle facilitation (Canada) through St. Stephen’s Community House. She is both an Associate and Community Mediator for St. Stephens.

She has extensive experience with personal disputes and specializes in cross-border/cross-culture dispute resolution with sensitivities towards mental health and domestic violence. Jenna is able to mediate and negotiate a variety of disputes and has recently carried out the following:

  • Circle/mediation for String Quartet/band
  • Family business mediation (succession conflict and planning)
  • Matrimonial/ divorce / asset split (cross border) Toronto & Dubai
  • Employee – employer end of service mediation
  • Partnership dissolution due to conflict

Jenna also trains in conflict resolution and negotiation, including:

  • Conflict resolution skills for hostel and hotel staff
  • Managing angry people for real estate employees and senior management
  • Mediation skills for all female teachers of local public school
  • Public speaking and assertiveness (in context of domestic violence), women
  • Communication skills for Staff and residents of a women’s housing association
  • Conflict resolution skills for children (Clairlee Public School)
  • Mediator skills for senior community members (Atlanta, Chicago, Calgary, Dallas)
  • Peer Mediation

Jenna has worked at a policy level with government bodies to develop alternative dispute resolution mechanisms through the ADR Institute of Ontario (ADRIO), in Toronto, by developing rosters, panels and options for mediation and arbitration for both internal and external disputes. This has provided solutions which save cost, time and relationships. Government bodies are now seeking further mechanisms such as this.

Image removed.Margot Van Sluytman

Margot Van Sluytman is an internationally-respected and sought-after independent voice in the field of Sawbonna-Restorative Justice. Her lived-experience, of meaning after murder, informs her greatly about justice advocacy. As a result she is invited to widely share her writings, talks, and lectures. She has been invited to several colleges, and universities, including, Ottawa, Dalhousie, Simon Fraser, Kamloops, Guelph, Thompson Rivers, Acadia, Cambridge, Northumbria, Durham, Leeds in Canada and the UK, respectively, and Eastern Mennonite University and St. Mary’s University, US. She is also invited to prisons, healing centres, police headquarters, and homeless shelters to share with participants the power of Sawbonna-Restorative Justice and therapeutic writing to better serve all citizens.

In 2016 she shared an in-person two-hour conversation with Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu in South Africa where they discussed Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and the vital importance of honouring one’s voice.

Earlier this year, she gave a Sawbonna-Restorative Justice workshop and therapeutic writing process with pre-release inmates at Pollsmoor Prison, Cape Town, South Africa, a prison in which Nelson Mandela served eight years.

Canada’s Justice Minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, invited Margot to meet with her, to discuss the role of Sawbonna-Restorative Justice in Canada’s changing Justice System. The Minister affirmed her passion for and belief in Sawbonna-Restorative Justice.

Margot continues to receive rich media coverage, including: CBC’s The Current, w/Anna Maria Tremonti; BBC; and, The Forgiveness Project, UK. Her Master’s Thesis entitled,
Sawbonna: Justice as Lived Experience informs researchers, policy-makers, and colleagues globally.
She is a Member of the International Academic Research Studies and a Member of the International Community of Restorative Researchers.
Margot has been nominated for the Premier’s Award, 2017, for her commitment to Sawbonna-Restorative Justice via her foundation, The Sawbonna Project for Living Justice.

Image removed.

SENATOR CONSTANCE SIMMONDS

Constance is a Metis woman from Treaty Six Territories of Northern Saskatchewan.  She has worked for thirty-eight years providing addictions, mental health and trauma outreach, counselling and case management.

Constance worked for a number of years on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver providing forensic outreach and for another number of years providing forensic psychiatric outreach in Kelowna, British Columbia all for the John Howard Society.

Constance currently works at Native Child and Family Services providing concurrent disorder case management for adults.

During the course of her career, Constance supported various clients through the restorative justice process, counselling clients and then advocating for them.  The goals of supporting clients was to help them understand how their actions impacted on the injured parties and how they could make compensation to the injured parties.  The process of restorative justice was always followed-up with ongoing counselling support so that clients would not repeat their actions and to help them find stability in their lifestyle issues (i.e. stable housing, on-going counselling, safety planning and treatment planning etc.).

Constance also carries traditional knowledge of how dispute resolution is conducted for the safety of individuals and for the community.

Constance currently serves as the Senator for the Toronto and York Region Metis Council and is one of the Founding Elders of the Indigenous Advisory Council for the Law Society of Upper Canada.