Heartspeak Productions seeks to help build awareness, understanding and practice of restorative justice, aboriginal justice and peacemaking by producing educational materials for professionals, practitioners and members of the public.

Conflict and violence affect every member of our society; it is therefore crucial to ensure that our responses are just and effective in making our communities safer. Unfortunately, some of our legal, institutional and societal responses exacerbate the underlying human problems. Government has recognized the general failure of incarceration to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders into society and in response to that, parliament has mandated expanded use be made of restorative practices. In 1996, Canada legislated changes to the sentencing principles of the Criminal Code by including the objectives of restorative justice as a fundamental aim of sentencing. In 2003, Canada's new Youth Criminal Justice Act likewise placed restorative goals into the framework for responding to youth in conflict with the law.

These shifts in perspective bring new opportunities, challenges and responsibilities for the justice system, schools, communities and individuals to put restorative justice into practice.