Theorising Rights-based Restorative Justice: The Canadian Context

This paper investigates theoretical and practice intersections in Canada between the principles and provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the UN's Basic Principles on the Use of Restorative Justice in Criminal Justice Matters. We undertook this exploratory study from a transdisciplinary standpoint and utilised grounded theory methodological and analytical procedures throughout; data include legal and policy documentary analyses along with eight key informant interviews. Findings indicate that CRC implementation has been impeded by myopic disciplinary approaches that have dissolved its constituent principles by isolating them from its provisions. Young people's human rights are languishing within Canadian juvenile justice contexts, and thus, historical efforts to build an ecosystem of rights-respecting communities in that nation are being compromised. The paper concludes with a reiteration of a CRC implementation model which articulates the balance amongst participation, protection and power relations.