Returning to the Teachings: Exploring Aboriginal Justice

In Dancing with a Ghost, Ross began his exploration of aboriginal approaches to justice and the visions of life which shape them. Now, in Returning to the Teachings, he takes that exploration further still.

During a three-year secondment with Justice Canada, Ross travelled from the Yukon to Cape Breton Island, examining and experiencing - the widespread aboriginal preference for "peacemaker justice." INow he invites us to accompany him as he moves past the pain and suffering that grip so many communities and into the exceptional promise of individual, family and community healing which traditional teachings are now restoring to aboriginal Canada. He generously shares his confusions, frustrations and delights as Elders and other teachers guide him, in their unique and often puzzling ways, into ancient visions of Creation and our role within it.

Returning to the Teachings is about aboriginal justice and much more, speaking not only to our minds, but also to our hearts and spirits. Above all, it stands as a search for the values and visions that give life its significance and which any justice system, aboriginal or otherwise, must serve and respect.