Broadview

The Focus - May 7, 2026

Restorative justice puts offenders and their victims on a path to healing. (Illustration by Pete Ryan)

Ministering to Justice

By Janice Young

For more than 40 years, a United Church minister has been a champion of community healing and righting wrongs. Prior to his leadership roles in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation process in the 2000s, he was heavily involved in the restorative justice movement in the 1980s and ever since. On the occasion of his investment as an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2022, Rev. James V. Scott was described as “a champion of our democratic society. A retired United Church of Canada minister, he has been a peacebuilder whose work has transformed communities and established life-changing precedents in our judicial system.” Today restorative justice programs, which consider the deeply human harms of crime (fear, anger, grief etc.) and seek healing for the victim, the offender and the community, operate in every province and territory in Canada.

Restorative justice has been practised in Indigenous societies since long before colonial times, and it was adapted for the Canadian legal system in the 1990s, yet Scott is still talking about it. He, and others, spoke with journalist Shauna MacKinnon for a new feature in Broadview’s May/June issue about how restorative justice could ease the current strain on Canada’s correction system and bring healing to communities.

Read the full story here.

Let Me Know: Have you or someone you know availed of restorative justice for a crime? Email me: j.young@broadview.org

LETTERS

In our last newsletter, we asked if you were concerned about the spread of Christian nationalism in Canada, in reference to a new Broadview story about an upcoming Christian summit in Red Deer, Alta. Several wrote to say that, indeed, you were. Here is one of those responses, edited for length and clarity.

I am deeply concerned about this summit at which the premier of my province is the keynote speaker. The organizers and sponsors of this event are clearly seeking to gain access to power so as to influence and shape public policy toward Christianity. The "brand" of Christianity that is being highlighted at this summit is clearly a Christian nationalist movement that is intended to transform Canada into a theocracy — a Christian theocracy. Other voices from other faith groups are being silenced in the public arena. The separation of church and state are in deep peril in my province.

— Rev. Linda C. Hunter, Wild Rose United Church, Calgary

My Mother's Last Gift

Illustration by Dominic Bugatto

A woman’s generous gift to science brings an unexpected layer of grief to her surviving children.

“We all acknowledged how brave Mum’s decision was, but it was too unsettling to think — let alone talk — about the prospect of her body on a dissection table.”

Good News for Religion Journalism

Side-by-side of recent issues of Broadview magazine and the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper (Broadview image)

Discover why the newly announced partnership between Broadview and the Winnipeg Free Press is so important to the survival of religion reporting in Canada.

“This is about more than one newsroom.”

Broadview Best of the Week - May 6, 2026

Women displaced from El-Fasher stand in line to receive food at a camp in Sudan’s Northern State on Nov. 16, 2025. An aid worker in Sudan describes life and loss in a war that reaches even the workplace. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

A grim anniversary

By Nicole Schmidt

This week, a new report found that more than half of Sudan’s population is facing severe food insecurity. The statistic — from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global body that monitors world hunger — translates to 7.8 million people, including 2.2 million children.

After more than three years of civil war in Sudan — a grim anniversary marked earlier this month — the country is facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Farmers have been forced to abandon their fields amid ongoing fighting; seed stocks have been destroyed or depleted; agriculture has all but collapsed in many areas. The consequences are devastating in a country where, before the conflict, two-thirds of the population relied on agriculture and related work for their livelihood. This is all compounded by horrific and widespread violence against civilians, including mass killings, torture and rape carried out by Rapid Support Forces and allied militias.

New on our website this week, Canadian Foodgrains Bank worker Christina Philips shares what it’s been like for aid agencies working on the ground in Sudan. She explains that Sudan, like much of the world, has been grappling with soaring fuel prices that make it even more difficult to get food into areas where people are starving. “There simply isn’t enough to go around,” she writes. You can read the full story about Sudan’s worsening humanitarian crisis here.

All of this should add up to a crisis we can’t ignore, and yet, the global response feels muted — woefully underreported and dangerously underfunded. Without meaningful action, the fallout will only intensify.

“When the rest of the world turns a blind eye, we must not allow the values Canadians hold dear to be questioned because we follow suit,” writes Philips. “This is a time for Canada to step up and provide the compassionate leadership the world is aching for.”

What should Canada be doing to help Sudan? Share your thoughts with me, and I’ll feature a selection of responses in next week’s newsletter. You can email me at n.schmidt@broadview.org.