Presentations
The Unwanted Journey
Spring 2007
Jane Orydzuk
There is something in each of us, whether we are victims ourselves or care givers of a victim, that doesn’t want to enter the horror of victimization. To do so is to revisit the pain, the sense of powerlessness, the confusion, the fragmentation and the feelings of hopelessness. The first reaction to something as horrific as murder is a disconnection, shock and numbness. Many victims talk about being lost in a state of fluid emotion with no words, just darkness.
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Resorative Justice Conference 2002
Victims meet with offenders
Jane Orydzuk
I knew this was something I wouldn’t have been able to do earlier on in my journey after my son was murdered in October 1994. We were scared as we walked into the tiny filthy room in an old downtown building. I had envisioned monsters and I was not prepared to stare into the faces of fourteen lifers who seemed to be as lost as we were. They had come with their parole officers, street workers and members of the John Howard Society, and some came with friends who had supported them and made them feel human again. Many of them hadn’t felt human for many years. I learned that night that Roy’s work meant the difference between hope and despair as he attempted to teach profound lessons on life’s choices. These were broken people who in themselves were searching for peace.
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Grant MacEwan College 2000
Dealing with the trauma of crime
J. MARTIN HATTERSLEY Q.C
What I can tell you about the effects of homicide comes simply from what I have seen in myself, and in my family, and among the group of others affected by it whom I meet regularly in a support group that we have in Edmonton sponsored by the CAVEAT organization. People are different, circumstances are different, their reactions are different, but yet there are some factors common to us all.
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Alberta Criminal Justice Association 1994
Healing the wounds of crime
J. MARTIN HATTERSLEY, Q.C
The world forgets the whole matter of a crime fairly quickly, and is surprised when the victim does not do the same - but within the family there are long term problems that cannot be swept aside. How are children to be cared for, when their mother has been suddenly snatched away? How can adequate care be provided and paid for? How can the family itself stay together, when all the times that used to be happy ones - birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, for instance - now bring up only an aching sense of what isn't there? How can members of a family relate to each other, when each has to handle his or her grief in his or her own fashion - some silent, some wanting to talk to the point of nausea - and the very faces of the different family members cause pain to each other because they carry a resemblance to the one who has been lost?
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Alberta Department of Justice 2002
How to assist a victim of homicide
J. MARTIN HATTERSLEY, Q.C
Perhaps the first thing to realize - and even victims don't always do this - is that there is no pre-existing condition that makes some people into victims and leaves others free. The question "What have I done to deserve this?" is natural, but most times the answer is "Nothing". Victims form a cross section of society who have happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They come from an enormous variety of backgrounds. There is no such thing as a "typical" victim.
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Full Gospel Businessmen's Association 1989
Some thoughts on death
J. MARTIN HATTERSLEY, Q.C
It is almost impossible for me to describe to you just what a blow a sudden loss like this is to a family. Some of you, I am sure, have experienced losses in your own lives, and you will know what I mean. None of us can tell ahead of time when such a loss will happen. What I'd like to do in the time I have with you is to share some of the spaces I have been in and the thoughts I have had since then, trying to reconcile this loss with my faith in a loving God whose will in the end controls the Universe.