How one woman came to forgive, and value, the man who murdered her father: Listen to the full interview HERE
AMT: How has this changed how you see justice? How you see restorative justice?
MVS: Well, I will tell you something that is so beautiful and so true, Anna Maria. when my dad was killed half of me died. The right side of my body was black and I was dead. I was pretty good. I had a pretty good brain, but I could not study any longer. So you know yes I eventually got a couple of diplomas. I did not finish my undergrad until I was 38-years-old. I finished a masters when I was 50 years of age. That is five years ago and that masters is called “Sawbonna” or justice as a lived experience and I did write that paper to talk about the fact that justice is not simply the proscriptions and the rules that we follow. It is a lived experiencing of how we treat each other as humans.
So I have been involved, I’ve been in consultation with our Justice Minister’s office. I’ve talked about the importance of our shared humanity even if we don’t like each other. And in my masters I write about the fact that no one should tell you who you are and what your voice is. And if someone puts me into a category and say you’re a victim that’s who you’re supposed to be. I will say I’m a survivor and I’m a human being. Glen is also a survivor and he’s also a human being. You don’t have to like what I do. But if you dishonor justice, if you dishonor my voice, you are dishonoring yourself.