• Island Community Justice Society is funded by the Department of Justice and is a member agency of the United Way of Cape Breton.
  
  
• The Society is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors which meets bi-monthly to review all the Agency’s activities and to develop policies as required. An Advisory Committee is in place in the Inverness/Richmond area to provide assistance to the Branch Coordinator and to report to the Board of Directors on issues specific to that area.
  
  
• The core staff team is comprised of Director, Coordinator of Volunteers, Victim Worker, Youth Worker, Office Manager, Part-time CSO Coordinator, and Part-time Administrative Assistant, all working out of the Sydney office, and Part-time Branch Coordinator, who works in Inverness/Richmond Counties.
  
  
• Community component is comprised of the Volunteer team and Community Placements.

Community Involvement

The community plays a major role in Island Community Justice Society's justice services for youth in conflict with the law. Across Cape Breton Island, there are three key roles for the community .

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors is comprised of between 15 to 18 community minded individuals who offer their expertise from their particular field of experience, i.e. business, legal, education, health, faith, etc. The Board strives to ensure that a quality service is delivered using a community based approach.


Volunteer Team

Presently, Island Community Justice Society has a volunteer base of approximately 120 individuals who have a desire to support victims and redirect yourth. Following successful completion of a screening and training process, volunteers are equipped to provide youth supervision, victim support, chair meetings to find placements for youth who need to complete community service work, co-facilitate youth educational workshops, and to facilitate conflict resolution processes. (For more information, please refer to Becoming a Volunteer.)

Community Placements

Non-profit, community agencies volunteer to supervise youth who have been ordered to complete community service work as part of a court order, or as part of a reparation agreement resulting from a restorative justice process. In 1998-99, more than 7,000 hours of community service work were completed by youth referred through our programs.

Island Community Justice Society recognizes the commitment required to take on this role, and appreciates that so many agencies have taken on the challenge. We have over 200 community placements on our resource list. These placements monitor the hours completed by the youth, liaise with the youth’s volunteer, and most importantly, provide guidance and support to youth who have been in conflict with the law.

By allowing youth to work in their agencies, the community takes an active role in redirecting youth to a criminal free lifestyle. Youth benefit greatly from this experience, learning valuable employment skills. Also, being part of a positive work opportunity where the supervisors treat them with respect for a job well done, helps many youth who struggle with low self-esteem and feelings of hopelessness. On numerous occasions, youth have gone on to volunteer additional hours and in some cases have actually secured employment based on their work performance.(Please contact Island Community Justice Society, for more information.)