In gratitude for Gail Schellenberg’s lifelong commitment to education, Initiatives for Just Communities (IJC) is naming the renovated training space at the El’dad offices the Gail Schellenberg Training Centre. Gail served as the executive director for Initiatives for Just Communities from 2014 to 2020, when health issues intervened. She passed away on December 4, 2020. Gail was both an educator and an administrator. She brought multi-disciplinary creativity, humour and a beli

In the course of our work, we meet people from time to time, who have made some bad choices in life. When I meet such, I want to learn from them, and so I ask them questions. And almost without fail, every one of them would say there are many things they would do differently. But the sad thing is they keep going the wrong direction. How? By the choices they are making today. The choices you make today define your life tomorrow. That is why choices have to be made with care.

Seeing the Invisible You are going to make a decision everyday how you want to live: whether it’s going to be by what you see or just trust that the not yet seen is much better. Sight is powerful but limited. We recently had a two-day training on suicide prevention, and it’s amazing the statistics on suicide not just globally but even here in Canada. And this is what baffles me, the common refrain from survivors: I looked around and couldn’t see anything to live for again!

Hank Dixon, interim Director of Open Circle, and Natalia Ilyniak, Director of Circles of Support and Accountability, spoke at Geez Magazine’s launch of Issue #44: Prisons. Hank shared about his experiences with the prison, both as an inmate and chaplain. He closed his presentation by quoting Gregory J. Boyle: "We stand there with those whose dignity has been denied. We locate ourselves with the poor and the powerless and the voiceless. At the edges, we join the easily despise

Mediation Services and Initiatives for Just Communities have partnered to create an interactive exhibition that will foster an understanding of personal experiences with the Criminal Justice System, as well as promote community-based Restorative Justice initiatives in Manitoba. This exhibition will be set up at the Canadian Mennonite University on Wednesday, November 22, in Marpeck Commons and at the University of Manitoba on the 23rd, on the 2nd floor of University Centre (A