Students and professors are raising questions about how McGill University handled the admission of a convicted murderer to its law school this fall, as authorities evaluate whether he will remain behind bars.
Jeffrey George Ewert was returned to the custody of federal authorities last Friday after his parole was suspended.
Before the suspension, Ewert had been on day parole while attending classes at the university’s faculty of law and returning to a halfway house at night. He was living under strict conditions while serving a life sentence.
Ewert was convicted of second-degree murder of a woman and attempted murder of a 15-year-old girl in British Columbia in 1984.
“When you’re someone who has a life sentence, the margin for error is very, very thin. I wouldn’t say you have none, but you don’t have that much,” Pierre Tabah, a Quebec criminal lawyer, said in an interview.
Ewert’s presence on campus was the subject of heated debate and left some students fearing for their safety.
Convicted murderer who attended McGill’s faculty of law back in custody
A number of students called for Ewert to be kept off campus, with two open letters detailing alleged troubling behaviour since the start of the semester. Students also told CBC News they felt the university had put them at risk by not disclosing his violent history.
Others argued in their own petitions that excluding Ewert from campus undermines his access to education and rehabilitation as an Indigenous man and a survivor of the Sixties Scoop.
Since his return to custody, the fallout has prompted a broader discussion about how McGill managed Ewert’s admission — and whether it should pursue a more structured approach in future.
Tabah, who has represented many people with a life sentence, said getting released on parole in the first place is difficult — and that there are always competing considerations for authorities: rehabilitation and community safety.
“If we put that in the balance, which one takes precedent?” Tabah asked. “The guy has the right to get back to society, has the right to have a life and education and that’s part of his rights. Society has the right to be protected.”
Rai Reece, an associate professor in the department of sociology at Toronto Metropolitan University, said there are ways to improve access to education for incarcerated and post-incarcerated individuals.
“The solution is not to deny someone education,” said Reece, who was one of the professors who signed a petition urging McGill to let Ewert return to class. She spoke to CBC before he was taken back into custody on Friday.
“When we take a hard line, I think we are on a slippery slope of eradicating and eroding the possibility for transformative justice and the possibility for accountability and the possibility for repairing harm.”
Other institutions have dedicated programs to help students with a criminal past safely and successfully integrate into campus life.
For example, the University of California, Berkeley, runs the Underground Scholars program, an academic support network specifically designed for formerly incarcerated students.
Convicted murderer who stirred controversy for attending McGill law school back in custody
While Canada has initiatives like Walls to Bridges — which brings university students and incarcerated people together for shared classes inside correctional facilities — there are fewer formal, on-campus support frameworks for managing an offender’s transition to civilian student life.
If the university had been more proactive, Reece believes it could have mitigated some of the fallout and the polarization on campus.
It also could have developed a forum for more nuanced conversations around safety and what actually makes and keeps students safe on campus, she added.
Given the high-profile nature of Ewert’s past convictions — and the strong probability people would find out about them — Reece said McGill, and authorities, should have been better prepared.
“It’s not about if — it’s when — this comes to light,” said Reece. “How will we, as an institution of higher learning, respond in a way that allows people, students, women to feel like we are holding space for someone to have a second chance and we’re holding space for survivors, right?”
Meredith Fraser, a first-year political science student, drafted an open letter to McGill’s administration last week, signed by dozens of students.
While not in the law faculty, she was concerned when she heard several female students tell her they planned to skip school, attend classes virtually or change their routines if Ewert returned to campus.
Although she acknowledges that education helps offenders reintegrate, Fraser believes Ewert should be restricted to remote learning if he is released on parole.
“It could be the best of both worlds where students can feel safe and Mr. Ewert can continue his rehabilitation and education,” she said in an interview.
Fraser met with some members of McGill’s administration on Monday night to discuss her suggestions.
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Among them is the formation of an ethics committee composed of university representatives, students and an outside expert in risk management or rehabilitation.
The committee would oversee any future students with known violent, criminal convictions and figure out how to manage their reintegration.
However, Canadian universities do not typically perform background checks for admission.
Another group of students want McGill to go even further if Ewert is welcomed back on campus, including alerting students to his presence in class and not letting him have unsupervised one-on-one time with female students.
Since McGill provost Angela Campbell issued a statement on Oct. 16, the university has not elaborated on next steps beyond promising to “actively review its admissions processes to ensure a similar situation never happens again.”
Both Campbell and the law faculty’s dean also reassured students that a fair process that balances the rights and interests of everyone involved is underway.
Ewert was returned to custody on Friday. The Correctional Service of Canada has 30 days to complete a risk assessment.
Based on its review, the correctional service must decide whether Ewert’s suspension is lifted and he’s released again on day parole, or, if his case is referred to the Parole Board of Canada for a post-suspension review — which must take place within 90 days.
The parole board will review all of the information and decide if Ewert’s suspension is cancelled or if his parole is revoked and he remains in prison. He will remain in custody until the board makes a decision.
Convicted killer attending McGill law school divides students over safety, 2nd chances
Initially, Ewert’s day parole was granted under a variety of conditions, including not to enter a drinking establishment, to immediately report all sexual and non-sexual relationships with women and to allow his case management team access to all his telecommunication activity.
The parole board added the latter condition because Ewert had been viewing women’s profiles on social media, starting discussions with them and exploring a dating site without notifying his case management team.
In an email to media, Ewert’s lawyer, Nora Demnati, said Monday she has not spoken to him and does not know where he is being held.
Demnati alleges that, contrary to the usual process, he was not given the opportunity to call counsel upon his arrest.
“I also do not know the reasons for his suspension,” she said, declining further comment.
