NAACJ · ANICJ

How We Engage

One of NAACJ’s primary roles is to create space that stimulates ideas based on research and experience through dialogue and discussion among individuals and groups in the social and criminal justice fields. It shares and generates information, knowledge, experience and ideas to inform and empower the member organizations, government partners and the public on criminal justice topics of mutual interest. By doing so, NAACJ bolsters its members’ ability to serve as catalysts for change relating to their missions of effective justice responses that uphold and promote human rights, thereby positively contributing to public safety.

Dialogue among the member organizations, with stakeholders and with federal partners include the following examples:

  • Roundtables with officials from Public Safety Canada’s Community Safety, Corrections and Criminal Justice Directorate
  • Annual meetings with the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC)
    • See our Terms of Reference here (2019)
  • Semi-annual meetings of the NAACJ/CSC Joint Community Corrections Working Group as well as ad hoc sub-group meetings
    • Read our Protocol for Partnership here (2022)
  • Business meetings with the Parole Board of Canada, Justice Canada, and the Office of the Correctional Investigator for Canada
  • Meetings and receptions with Parliamentarians and staffers including Senators, Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, and Directors of Policy.


Federal government partners value NAACJ for serving the following functions:

  • 1 – A conduit to a diverse group of leading national agencies, their communities and their knowledge
    • Facilitating access of government departments to NVOs that they may not otherwise have access to, and supporting information sharing across sectors to help build connections and relationships.
    • Assisting government when it is holding consultations, gathering advice or sharing information and expertise.
  • 2 – Access to credible, quality members with front line, lived knowledge and experience
    • Linking government bodies to credible, high quality and well-respected individuals and agencies that continue to make significant, long-term contributions to social and criminal justice, which are mindful of the lived experiences and realities of their communities.
  • 3 – On the ground perspectives from agencies that work with people inside and outside of the justice system
    • Sharing what is happening on the ground, how certain policies affect real people and other policy impacts. NAACJ’s network understands the compounding problems for people who are locked in the justice system, and how to help people who are trying to avoid or exit the justice system.
    • Assisting government to see practical implications of policy in the real world.
  • 4 – Strong, effective relationships with key partners in the fields of social and criminal justice
    • Expanding the circle of engagement through sessions with traditional and non-traditional criminal justice partners and stakeholders such as:
      • Restorative Justice Housing Ontario (RJHO)
      • Howard Sapers and Dr Tony Doob, Implementation Advisory Panel (IAP) of CSC’s Structured Intervention Units (SIUs)
      • The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform
      • The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA)
      • Bruce Porter, Director of the Social Rights Advocacy Centre and Senior Advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
      • Statistics Canada, Centre for Justice Statistics
      • Employment and Social Development Canada
      • Refugees and Citizenship Canada
      • The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)
      • National Association of Friendship Centres (NAFC)
      • The Canadian Municipal Network on Crime Prevention (CMNCP)
      • The Collaborating Centre for Prison Health & Education (CCPHE)
      • Mothers Offering Mutual Support (MOMS)
      • No On Prison Expansion (NOPE)
      • The Vanier Institute of the Family
      • The National Youth Justice Network (NYJN)
      • The Fresh Start Coalition
      • The Canadian Coalition for Children with Incarcerated Parents (CCCIP)
      • Direction 180
      • 902 Man Up!
  • 5 – An entrepreneurial and resourceful history of collaboration and innovation
    • Providing corporate memory and creating opportunities for members, partners and the public to learn from one another and act in concert on shared priorities, where possible.
    • Stimulating projects and initiatives such as the development of:
      • Provincial programs to train and employ people after incarceration as a result of the joint workshop with Public Safety Canada (PS) and Justice Canada (JUS), Community Empowerment through Social Enterprise (2011)
      • Victim Empathy curricula in federal institutions, following the session about the significance of victim impact programming at the NAACJ/PS/JUS Joint Forum, Accessing Justice Inside the Criminal Justice System: Empowering Positive Change (2013)
      • Learning opportunities for CSC Parole Officers through co-developed and co-delivered training, We All Live in Community (2016)