Rethinking Success in Indigenous Restorative Justice Programs

During law school, I often found myself questioning how we think about, talk about and validate justice—particularly when Indigenous peoples are involved. It became increasingly clear that the way justice is evaluated or deemed “successful” makes little sense, relying on metrics that are disconnected from human experiences, relationships and community realities. This is especially evident in the case of Indigenous restorative justice programs. While these community-based initiatives are doing transformative work, the ways they’re asked to report outcomes often fail to capture the full scope and impact of their efforts. The questions being asked, and the numbers being demanded, are shaped by colonial institutions that expect Indigenous programs to fit within narrow, Western definitions of success.

As I reflected on these issues and engaged in conversations with others, I came to realize that even the concept of “success” is rooted in colonial thinking. It suggests a singular, measurable end goal, often tied to ideas of individual accountability, punishment or recidivism—concepts that do not necessarily reflect Indigenous worldviews of justice. While each Nation holds its own distinct practices and teachings, a shared value is that justice has never been about punishment. It is about restoring balance. What colonial systems frame as “success” is typically centred on maintaining control, order and compliance, rather than focusing on repairing harm, restoring relationships and fostering healing at both individual and collective levels.

I wanted to explore more deeply how law, evaluation and data collection have historically been (and continue to be) used as tools of colonial control. This inspired me to pursue my LLM at the University of Victoria, where my research examines how Indigenous restorative justice programs are often evaluated using metrics that fail to reflect Indigenous experiences, values and ways of knowing. This creates serious challenges, as many programs rely on government funding and must meet the reporting expectations of external stakeholders to continue their work. As a result, programs are often forced to frame their outcomes in ways that satisfy these imposed requirements, even when the metrics don’t fully reflect what matters most to them and the people they serve.

Through conversations with community-based restorative justice programs, I’ve learned how difficult it is to translate the work of relationship-building, accountability and community wellness into reports designed for colonial systems. At the same time, I’ve learned how success is felt and lived within their communities, often in ways that these systems fail to recognize. Many of the individuals I spoke with echoed what I suspected all along: success in Indigenous justice programs cannot be fully captured by Western tools, such as recidivism rates and other quantitative metrics.

My work seeks to explore more culturally responsive, community-centred ways of evaluating Indigenous restorative justice programs. While my research operates within a Western academic framework, and I recognize the limitations that come with this, my goal is to support communities in reporting their successes in a way that is rooted in their beliefs and values, while still being seen as “valid” by funders, courts and other stakeholders.

Ultimately, this is about more than data. It’s about supporting Indigenous-led justice, reclaiming space in systems that were never built for us and honouring the knowledge and leadership that has sustained our communities long before the arrival of colonial institutions.