Obituary for John Glendon FLETT
John Glendon (Glen) Flett
September 7, 1950 – October 26, 2019
John Glendon (Glen) FlettGlen was predeceased by his parents and brother Brock. He is survived by his loving wife Sherry Lyn Edmunds-Flett, daughter Victoria (spouse Zachery) and sons Jonathan, Clayton and Justin; grandchildren Kaylie, John Riley, Devin, Huckleberry, Luke and John Oliver. He is also survived by numerous nephews, nieces and cousins.
Glen Flett was born in Victoria, British Columbia and was the youngest son of Arnold and Evelyn Flett. He was named after his great-grandfather John Flett, a cooper with the Hudson’s Bay Company who emigrated to Victoria from Stromness, Orkney Islands, Scotland in 1842. Growing up in Oak Bay, Glen attended Monterey Elementary School and then Lansdowne and Oak Bay High Schools.
In trouble with the law since he was a child, Glen spent twenty-three years behind bars. He was sentenced to 21 years to life in 1980 for shooting to death a Hudson’s Bay store manager during a Brink’s hold-up in Toronto.
After years of living a violent crime-filled life, Glen became a Christian while he was at Kent Institution in 1982. The Lord then began to move in his life in a mighty way. Glen’s sentence was reduced by the Ontario Court of Appeal to 14 years to life. In 1987, he married his wife Sherry Edmunds at William Head Institution on Vancouver Island. Granted Parole in 1992, Glen was the founder and co-facilitator of L.I.N.C. (Long-term Inmates Now in the Community). A non-profit registered charity, L.I.N.C. has actively operated for over 27 years. The Mission of L.I.N.C. is to promote equality and justice for all by advancing the basic principles of restorative justice through positive intervention in the lives of persons sentenced to lengthy terms of incarceration and in the lives of their families.
Operated by L.I.N.C., Emma’s Acres is an agricultural social enterprise business that employs survivors/victims, ex-offenders and offenders. The farm is on a 3.2 hectare property leased to L.I.N.C. by the District of Mission. The vegetables, herbs and fruit are sold in the community and some is donated to local non-profit groups in the District of Mission including the food banks and the community kitchen. The proceeds of the social enterprise business fund the work of the L.I.N.C. Society in the community and its work with survivors of serious crime.
In 1996, Glen was awarded the University College of the Fraser Valley’s Volunteer of the Year award for another programme he developed called Partners in Learning which pairs tutors from a Minimum-Security Institution with at-risk youth in alternative schools in Mission and Abbotsford. He was nominated twice for the Ron Wiebe Restorative Justice Award. Glen is being honored posthumously with the Commissioner’s Commendation Award from the Correctional Service of Canada. Glen believed strongly in the concept of transformative justice with its empowerment of victims and ultimate goal of a safer community for all.
On-line memories may be made on the Woodlawn Funeral Home site: https://www.dignitymemorial.com
Glen will be buried at Ross Bay Cemetery on Fairfield Road, Victoria in the family plot. Celebrations of Life for Glen Flett are planned to be held in May, 2020 in order to enable people from inside prison to make arrangements to attend.
- May 7, 2020 10:00 am at Emma’s Acres, 34890 Cemetery Avenue, Mission, B.C. V2V 6Y6
- May 10, 2020 11:00 am at The Victoria Truth Centre, 2815 Cedar Hill Road, Victoria, B.C. V8T 3H6
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Glen’s memory to the registered non-profit charity he founded:
- By mail: L.I.N.C. 33270 14th Avenue, Mission, B.C. V2V 4Z7 or
- By Charitable Impact: https://my.charitableimpact.com/charities/l-i-n-c-longterm-inmates-now-in-the-community
or - By Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donate/854057631718737/10162552502035693/
2018 L.I.N.C. Clean & Sober Sit Down Christmas Dinner
L.I.N.C.’s 22nd Annual Community Christmas Gathering happens Thursday, December 20, 2018, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at All Saints Anglican Church, 33077 2nd Avenue in Mission.
Join us for a FREE full-course turkey dinner in a festive atmosphere … INCLUDING a visit from Santa.
Call 604-820-1015 for more information.
2016 L.I.N.C. Clean & Sober Sit Down Christmas Dinner
L.I.N.C.’s 20th Annual Community Christmas Gathering happens Thursday, December 15, 2016, from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at All Saints Anglican Church, 33077 2nd Avenue in Mission.
Join us for a FREE full-course turkey dinners in a festive atmosphere … INCLUDING a visit from Santa.
Call 604-820-1015 for more information.
Emma’s Acres: An Innovative Approach to Stewarding the Land in the Fraser Valley
Article source: BC food security gateway
“We formed to help people who are transitioning out of prison have a place to belong; to try to create a sense of community.” -Sherry Edmunds-Flett, Executive Director, L.I.N.C. Society
It was five years ago when Glen Flett and Sherry Edmunds-Flett first laid their eyes on a Mission community garden with a big vision in mind. Today, their vision manifests as Emma’s Acres – an 8-acre farm in the Fraser Valley’s District of Mission. Emma’s Acres integrates small-scale sustainable family farming with social enterprise and community development.
The story begins with Sherry’s participation in the Mission Food Access Network (M.F.A.N.); a community network convening key partners around food security throughout Mission. She had heard about the underutilized community garden through M.F.A.N. Sherry’s husband Glen, L.I.N.C’s founder and project manager of L.I.N.C.’s garden and farm programs worked hard to restore the garden with prisoners who came out on community service passes from nearby federal institutions. In that first year, L.I.N.C. was able to sell $800 worth of produce grown from their two plots that they contributed to a survivor’s homicide support group.
Sherry and Glen connected with Mission’s now former mayor, Ted Adlem, at a National Victims of Crime awareness week forum that they organized. Buoyed by their first successful social enterprise experiment, they were seeking more land to farm. The District of Mission got on board and offered to lease to them eight acres of wooded land that was slated for future expansion of the cemetery located across the road.
Established on repurposed land not traditionally slated for agriculture, Emma’s Acres is a thriving sustainable agriculture system that supports local food security in the District of Mission by selling produce at farmer’s markets in Mission, to local non-profits, stores and restaurants as well as donating produce to local food programs and the food bank. Their social enterprise model is succeeding; only a few years after the initial $800 in annual sales, Emma’s Acres made $25,000 from food sales in 2015. There are hopes to expand the farm in the near future by adding a second greenhouse, beehives, chickens, and goats.
What is particularly special about Emma’s Acres is the role farming and food security are being used to engage with a unique community: people impacted by the criminal justice system. The farm focuses on providing people transitioning out of prison with an opportunity to reintegrate into the community while gaining employable skills. Emma’s Acres also engages victims as a way of supporting relationships between offenders and victims towards restorative justice: an approach that focuses on the needs of victims and communities emphasizing offender accountability, healing, and repairing harm. (More on restorative justice efforts in BC.)
When it comes to managing the farm, project manager Glenn, an ex-offender himself, is a self-described “collaborative boss” explaining his process of supporting decision-making through conversation with his farmworkers: “We sit down and talk about our ideas and collaborate with each other and I think that’s one of the reasons it works for the prisoners. They get a really good sense of ownership and feel like they’re a part of it. It’s not just like they’re being ordered to do this or that. We empower people to make their own choices and we’re not dictating to them and that helps.”
Glen has dreams of growing the social enterprise even larger and using profits to eventually build a healing centre for survivors of serious crime.
Bountiful crops at Emma’s Acres
Glen with MLA Simon Gibson and Emma’s Acres staff Ray King Sr.
Key outcomes and impact
- Producing and providing food in a community with barriers to food access
- Strong and supportive relationship between Emma’s Acres and the District of Mission, and broad community support from community members, local businesses, and correctional facilities
- Using farming to promote self-esteem and facilitate reintegration for people who have been impacted by the criminal justice system
- Repurposing land not traditionally thought of as agricultural for small-scale sustainable farming and food security
Lessons Learned
- Agriculture and food related initiatives present valuable opportunities for reaching and engaging community members who could otherwise be isolated, in this case, people who have been impacted by the criminal justice system
- Innovative farming initiatives can support food security while contributing to community development
- Participating in local food security networks can open the door to unexpected connections and opportunities
Key Partners and Funders
For more information about this initiative:
My Vision of Restorative Justice by Glen Flett
(This article is written by Glen Flett and is reprinted from the Restorative Justice Week 2014 ‘Inspiring Innovation’ Basic Resource Kit.)
In the winter of 1982, a tremendous life changing event occurred that made me look at the world in a brand new way. I had accepted Jesus Christ as my savior while serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison for the most horrendous crime a person can commit – murder. Five years prior, while robbing a Brinks truck, I shot and killed an innocent man named Theodore Van Sluytman. From the age of 10 until that terrible moment, I had lived a selfish and hedonistic existence. When I accepted God into my life, it all became so painfully clear. I would often find myself on my knees for hours, confessing the grim truth of all that I had done.
I was brought up in a good family. My parents tried so hard to change the path I had chosen. They introduced me to my grandfather’s dear friend, Dr. Reverend Emma Smiley, and also the head of the Truth Center in Victoria. Initially, I attended that church against my will. Eventually, I grew to love Rev. Smiley, mainly because she loved me. My mom said that Rev. Smiley saw life through rose colored glasses. After my conversion experience in prison, I began to live the teachings of Christ as closely as I could. I had a great mentor, Ted Cryer, who visited me on a regular basis and brought me books. I wrote to Rev. Smiley about my change. She was so overjoyed and told me to live my life in a loving way. She said that prayers come true. I thought: “Oh those rose colored glasses are too optimistic!”, but I prayed every day.
I started to really care about those around me, both inmates and guards. One year after giving my life to God, I had the greatest test of faith I have ever been given. One night, I called home and my dad answered the phone. He told me that someone had broken into Reverend Smiley’s home and beat her to death. I went numb. I couldn’t grasp what he was saying. I felt sick and overwhelmed. All I could think was: “How could God let that happen? Who could do such an evil thing to someone so good?”.
About nine months after her murder, the young man who killed Rev. Smiley was convicted and sent to the same penitentiary in which I was incarcerated. Revenge would have been so easy. However, I knew Rev. Smiley would not want that. She had always said that we needed to forgive and let go. I started to have a relationship with this individual. Years later, I attended his parole hearing where he was released. Through it all, I felt the Reverend smiling down on me. She loved me and everyone she met, even her killer. She was truly a Christian!
When I was released from prison in 1992, I founded a support group for inmates and their families called L.I.N.C. (Long-term Inmates Now in the Community). In 1995, while at a forum, I met Keith Kemp and Rosalie Turcotte who had both tragically lost children to homicide. L.I.N.C.’s journey to try to help those who have been harmed started after they befriended me. Since that day, I have been so privileged to meet people who have accepted me. Grace is amazing! Another close friend of mine, Marjean Fichtenberg, who also lost her son to murder, made it possible for me to meet with Margot Van Sluytman, one of my victim’s daughters, in 2007. She later became one of my best friends.
Since 1995, my wife and I searched for a way to give back to the victim community. Marjean spoke to me about the idea of a healing center for survivors. We had been looking into social enterprise businesses for some time when an opportunity arose to manage a community garden in Mission, B.C. Some of the vegetables grown were sold at the local farmer’s market to help fund a support group for victims of homicide. We learnt quickly that you have to grow a lot of squash to make money.
For that reason, we leased an eight acre parcel of land from the District of Mission and thus Emma’s Acres, named in honor of Reverend Emma Smiley, was born.
Emma’s Acres is truly incredible. Today, inmates who come out on escorted passes and work release, join us and work to make the dream come true. The first person hired for the project was Ray King Sr. whose son was murdered by a high profile offender. He too has become my friend. It feels good to hear him talk about our project and how it has brought light back into his life after living in hell for so long. I am so thankful that I listened to Reverend Emma Smiley.
My vision of restorative justice puts victims and survivors first. The people who work at Emma’s Acres can’t change what they did, but they can acknowledge their responsibility and do all they can to make a difference now. This is real restorative justice because the community and offenders work together to help bring healing and peace to victims. The project is succeeding because people from different walks of life are assisting. It’s an example, in action, of what Rev. Smiley used to say: “Live Life Lovingly!”.
Glen on the CBC National January 19, 2015, The Effects of Solitary Confinement
An interview with Glen Flett aired on the CBC National January 19th, 2015. In the interview Glenn speaks about the effects of solitary confinement on prison inmates.
Glen on CBC Daybreak North, January 15, 2015: The Effects Of Overcrowding in B.C. Prisons
Glen Flett on CBC Daybreak North January 15, 2015, “Convicted murderer reflects on the effects of overcrowding in B.C. prisons” – click the image below (or the title link) to listen.
Fundraiser To Bring Water to Emma’s Acres
A fundraising campaign is underway to bring water to Emma’s Acres in Mission, BC.
Emma’s Acres is an agricultural social enterprise business, managed by the L.I.N.C. Society, that employs victims/survivors, ex-offenders and offenders. They produce vegetables, herbs and fruits grown naturally without the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers on an 8-acre property leased to us by the District of Mission.
Produce from Emma’s Acres is sold at the Mission City Farmers’ Market, and there are plans in the works to sell the produce to local restaurants and stores. Some of the produce is also donated to local non profits in the District of Mission including the food banks and the community kitchen.
The proceeds raised from Emma’s Acres funds the work of the L.I.N.C. Society in the community and, in particular, its work with survivors of serious crime.
L.I.N.C. has set the fundraising deadline for mid July 2014, for raising the $16,000 needed to bring water from across the road to 5 acres of the Emma’s Acres site. The funds will cover the costs of:
- Bringing water from across the road
- Installing a drip irrigation system in the fields
- Installing a drip irrigation system in the greenhouse
For media on Emma’s Acres Check out the April 2014 article in The Province newspaper Fraser Valley farm project aims to give inmates a new stake in the community and the VanCity article Emma’s Acres: Growing more than gardens in Mission, BC.
For information on sponsorship opportunities for this fundraising initiative, please visit the Emma’s Acres page under Programs before the middle of July 2014. Donations of $20 or more will receive a charitable tax receipt donor’s names will go on a plaque at Emma’s Acres, as well as on our website and Facebook Page.
Homicide Support Group 2014
For information about Homicide Support Group meetings held at the M2/W2 office in Abbotsford, call 604 596 8866.