Unexpected Peace

When Anne-Marie Hagan was 19 years old her life changed irrevocably. Her father was murdered in a violent attack by a young man in the neighbourhood in the tiny community of Kingman’s Cove in Newfoundland. For most of the next two decades, Ann Marie lived filled with anger, resentment, bitterness…..in an emotional prison that many victims of crime experience. Ironically, she became free only after she met and forgave the man who had killed her father 17 years later. She didn’t intend to forgive him but to her surprise that internal emotional shift freed her up to enjoy life again and to feel some inner peace. Anne-Marie took part in a process known as victim-offender mediation, just one type of Restorative Justice practice being used today.