Restorative justice recommended for UVic students caught digging up campus lawns to plant garden

Kyle Slavin - Saanich News Published: May 19, 2010 :

Saanich police have forwarded the names of 10 University of Victoria students to the John Howard Society after identifying a number of individuals involved in the dig-in protests at the school earlier this year. On March 23, and then again on March 30, students gathered outside the MacLaurin Library and dug holes in a grass field to install raised planters to create community gardens. In both instances the university removed the gardens at a cost of more than $10,000, said UVic director of communications Bruce Kilpatrick. "There's been terrific amounts of staff time eaten up in responding to this. Time that has been wasted from March 24 on," Kilpatrick said. Sgt. John Price with the Saanich police said they are seeking to pursue restorative justice through John Howard rather than criminal charges because of the nature of the crime. "It's not a violent crime. There was no crime against a person, but it was a crime against property," Price said. Kilpatrick said the university favours dealing with these individuals in this way, rather than pursuing criminal charges."It seems to make a lot of sense that this is an appropriate way to deal with the issues," he said.

A total of 19 individuals were identified by police investigators in the first protest. All 10 names that have been sent to the John Howard Society are named in a single file with a charge of mischief over $5,000. None of the students, Price said, had previous criminal records. The remaining nine individuals, who Kilpatrick says are all students as well, may still face action from the university. "Obviously this is an issue that still needs to be dealt with. It's clear that we will be looking at some (action), we just don't know what that is at this point." The file forwarded to the John Howard Society is just a recommendation, Price said. If the individuals named do not wish to engage in restorative justice then criminal charges of mischief can be forwarded. Calls to student members of the Food Not Lawns Collective, which participated in the protests, were not returned.