Adriana Appleton’s three-year-old daughter knows what her father’s job is—“Daddy works on the choo-choo trains”—but when it comes to Adriana’s work, all the toddler knows is that “Mama meets with the people.”
It’s age-appropriately vague.
Appleton, 33, is the executive director of The Micah Mission in Saskatoon. In that role, she meets regularly with federal inmates, individuals recently released after being in prison for causing sexual harm, and people on parole. She works with 60 volunteers who support these individuals as they reintegrate into society through The Micah Mission’s three programs: Circles of Accountability and Support (CoSA), Person-2-Person visitation at the Regina Psychiatric Centre and the Faith Community Reintegration Project.
Started in 2009, the organization takes its name from Micah 6:8: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
In 2015, then-director of The Micah Mission, Dave Feick, spoke in a class Appleton was taking at the University of Saskatchewan. Having experienced sexual harm herself in young adulthood, Appleton was curious why people volunteered to help perpetrators of such violence. Still, she signed up to volunteer.
“It wasn’t until the volunteer training where everything clicked,” she said. “If the community is backing its community members, ensuring folks are not isolating or ostracized for the harm that they’ve caused, not only are we creating safer communities, but we’re helping to break the cycle of harm.”
The core member Adriana supported in her first CoSA circle was a young man around her age. Through conversations with him, Appleton learned about his background—the lack of family support, early exposure to substances and trauma. It was helpful for her own recovery.
“In the years following [my experience of harm] I didn’t have any sort of sense of closure. We didn’t go through the court system because it was an [extended] family member,” she said. “It was a lot of, ‘Okay now you’re just living.’ [Volunteering] offered me an opportunity to ask some questions … to better understand my own experience.
“It was this healthy boundary where I could learn without being right in front of the person who caused me harm,” she said.
Appleton said volunteering has helped her heal. She now knows her perpetrator took advantage of her through grooming behaviour. Now in her work, she’s attuned to this form of manipulation but also to the situations that lead perpetrators to offend. These include a lack of strategies as well as being far from a community of support.
“How are you supposed to be your best self if you don’t have a hub of humans around you, helping you, guiding you and listening to you?” she asked.
Appleton has shared parts of her own story with clients who wish to speak with their victims, to help them understand a victim’s perspective. In response, she said, clients are initially surprised, unsure why she is doing the work she is. She explains she does it for the benefit of the larger community.
“[They are] really safe and meaningful conversations and hopefully help us to establish a bit more trust as we continue this work,” she said.
Appleton emphasized that the training volunteers receive through The Micah Mission can also benefit communities beyond a client and their circle. It gets volunteers thinking about healthy boundaries in their own lives.
“You’re planting these seeds in other places, so hopefully the cycle doesn’t just end with the individual who’s caused harm but maybe prevents somebody else over yonder from doing it,” she said.
As a young working mother, Appleton is conscious of the fact that her child is growing up in a safe, supportive environment, something a lot of The Micah Mission’s clients didn’t experience. After a hard day of prison visitation, she thinks about what systems are in place to make sure children don’t grow up to cause harm.
Despite nights of interrupted sleep—Appleton makes time for extra cuddles and playing in puddles—she keeps “meeting with the people … holding each other’s stories for the common good.”
Saskatchewan prison ministries
The Micah Mission
Created in 2008, The Micah Mission runs three programs: Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA), Person 2 Person (P2P) visitation at the Regional Psychiatric Centre and the Faith Community Reintegration Project, which connects people on parole with faith communities.
“In our Circles of Support and Accountability (CoSA) program, we’ve just had six consecutive years where none of our program participants have reoffended sexually,” said executive director Adriana Appleton. “That is an incredible accomplishment.”
The Micah Mission receives donations from churches and individuals and grants from Correctional Service Canada, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan, Mennonite Church Saskatchewan and United Church of Canada.
With a budget of $125,000, Micah Mission has one staff member and works with 60 volunteers. In its last fiscal year, 24 inmates participated in P2P, and 24 in the Faith Community Reintegration Project.
Federal funding to Micah Mission stopped in 2022, which meant the organization lost an employee and now supports only a third of the CoSA circles it ran before.
“Are we functioning? Yes. Are we working to the best of our ability? Yes. But has our reach been affected? One hundred per cent it has,” said Appleton.
Parkland Restorative Justice
Parkland Restorative Justice, based in Prince Albert, runs four programs: inmate visitation at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, one active CoSA circle, a reintegration program called Out the Gate, and Dad Hero, which helps incarcerated fathers discuss their parenting.
Parkland has two staff members and serves approximately 45 inmates at any given time. Program manager Seth Michael estimates Parkland has 30 volunteers, who come from a variety of church denominations.
Parkland lost funding for its CoSA programming in 2022, but manages to keep one circle active.
“Funding for non-profit work across the board is becoming more and more difficult to find,” said Michael. “However, when you are doing God’s work, we know that somehow in the end it will endure the challenges.”
After closing its doors in 2024, Grace Mennonite Church in Prince Albert donated its building to Parkland Restorative Justice. From the sale of that building, Parkland, in turn, donated two $30,000 cheques to The Micah Mission and to CoSA South Saskatchewan in December.
CoSA South Saskatchewan
In CoSA South Saskatchewan’s annual report to MC Sask, Charles Kooger noted that a typical CoSA model has one full-time employee managing around 15 circles. Because of an active board and volunteer base, in 2024, Kooger managed 16 circles as a quarter-time coordinator.
“[CoSA] South Saskatchewan has had zero instances of core members causing harm in their communities this past year again. We are proud of this, and of our core members for maintaining this good standard,” he wrote.
Funding comes from MC Sask, MCC Saskatchewan, the United Church of Canada and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina.
Of the $30,000 donation from Parkland, Kooger was hugely grateful and wrote that it takes the organization “off the knife-edge of non-viability for at least a couple of years.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.