A Restorative Approach to Environmental Decision-Making January 7, 2020 In the second part of this blog series, I highlighted opportunities for restorative justice to be used for the purposes of finding justice when environmental offences have been committed. In this part, I discuss the role for restorative approaches in decision-making processes where no offences have occurred. The focus of this post is on restorative process as a tool for education and engagement.  Restorative practices are typically used, at least those that are more formal, where a crime has been committed. However, more broadly, restorative practices are used for any conflict where a harm occurs or can occur. For instance, family lawyers may be familiar with family group conferences, and educators may be familiar with the use of restorative circles for teaching. The reason that restorative practices are so appropriate for such a wide array of issues is the broad focus on repairing harm and on relationships.  Restorative practices, or processes, have already been used in Nova Scotia for a wide range of issues outside the realm of “criminal law”, including to resolve conflicts that have an environmental or human health component. As highlighted in A Report on the Relationship Between Restorative Justice and…