Grants and Contributions

CoSA Canada supports the safe and healthy reintegration of individuals with a history of sexual offending to prevent recidivism and further victimization. As a national organization, it strengthens local CoSA sites by promoting evidence‑based best practices, fostering partnerships with government and criminal justice stakeholders, and supporting research, public education, and sustainable funding to enhance community safety.

CoSA Canada Inc. has applied for funding under the Grants Program to National Voluntary Organizations (GP to NVOs) which supports not-for-profit or national voluntary organizations that are active in the area of corrections, conditional release and/or community reintegration.

The Circles of support and Accountability (CoSA) takes a Restorative Justice approach to supporting and holding accountable individuals who have committed sexual offences to reintegrate into the community. During the pandemic, CoSA sites began to experiment with virtual circles using video platforms or phone conferencing. Though in-person circles are preferred over virtual circles in most circumstances, the CoSA network recognizes the opportunity of serving Core Members (CM) who live in more remote communities through this innovation on the model. Remote communities not only cannot sustain a local CoSA site, but may also have challenges in mobilizing sufficient volunteers to provide circles. This project will develop a consistent model of virtual circles, a management plan for referral of CMs, as well as the concept of a national bank of volunteers to populate circles for remote communities. This will require the development of a national leadership training program that is able to recruit volunteers from any community in Canada.

This project will enable CoSA Canada to build on their commitment to understand the experiences and needs of victims of sexual harm. CoSA has articulated a clear commitment to restorative justice principles and the centering of victim experience. This project will enable the CoSA Canada network to actualize this commitment in several phases of development including consultation, design, implementation and evaluation.

CoSA is developing a tool that prioritizes its unique context as a community-based, volunteer-led, relationship-focused restorative justice reintegration program. The development of the Core Member Intake Tool (CMIT) will provide a comprehensive evidence-informed protocol to assist volunteers and core members to work more effectively by accessing key information about risks, strengths, social/personal circumstances, and stigma, as examples.

CoSA Canada represents the interests of Circles of Support of and Accountability at the national level and builds capacity of the local CoSA sites to do their work. There are CoSA program sites in fourteen communities across Canada which help individuals who have a history of sexual offending to reintegrate into the community with a support group of training staff and volunteers. CoSA Canada nurtures partnerships with government stakeholders and criminal justice organizations at the national level. In addition, the organization works to develop and champion good practices nationally, ensuring that program sites are equipped to provide support to individuals at the highest level of quality.

CoSA Canada’s target population are the local CoSA sites, the general public, and ex-offenders who have committed one or more sexual offences.

The purpose of this contribution is to provide funding to CoSA to work with ex-offenders who have committed one or more sexual offences and who require support to live a positive, crime free life.