Maritimes justice pioneer dies

Siegfried Janzen, who served with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in various capacities over the past 60 years, died Aug. 2 in Petitcodiac, New Brunswick. He was 84.

Janzen was recognized with the Taylor Award for his years of dedication to prison ministry and restorative justice by Correctional Service Canada (CSC) earlier this spring. (See “People and Events,” MB Herald, July 22).

A few years ago, Janzen wrote a paper entitled, “Why I am a prison volunteer.” In it, he expressed his support for the healing effects of restorative justice and victim–offender mediation. “Forgiveness comes from within,” he stated. “Not hurried or imputed; it surfaces only after deep inner struggles. When it follows such a path, forgiveness becomes a beautiful process conjoining love, truth, peace, justice; and then it adds strength to a hurting spirit.”

Janzen was born in Ukraine in 1920. His father, a Mennonite minister, was the administrator of a mental hospital. His mother, a nurse, died when he was three. The family fled persecution in the newly-formed Soviet Union, arriving in Canada in 1927.

As a conscientious objector, Janzen was assigned to selective service in Ontario during World War II. Soon after their wedding, he and his wife Margaret left to serve with MCC in Netherlands and West Germany. From 1945 to 1950, they helped establish two refugee camps, Gronau and Backnang, and helped 6,000 refugees get to Canada.

Upon returning to Canada, Janzen worked as a mason in Nova Scotia. He was ordained as a lay Baptist minister in 1980. Upon retiring in 1985, he dedicated himself to ministry and mediation with inmates in Eastern Canada.

MCC Maritimes co-directors Tom and Judith Snowdon said, “Siegfried Janzen was a pioneer of restorative justice in the Maritimes, a companion of prisoners and a mediator who brought many people to a new level of peace with past difficulties.”

—Tara Tharayil, MCC Canada release