An Indigenous man convicted of murder and attempted murder could get parole after the Federal Court ruled the parole board failed to consider his traumatic past when it denied his release.
Jeffrey George Ewert, 61, was convicted in 1984 after he sexually assaulted and strangled two women in British Columbia in two separate incidents while highly intoxicated, killing one and leaving the other disabled.
The Parole Board of Canada denied his application for day parole in 2022, concluding he still posed an undue risk to society.
But a Federal Court judge last week overturned that decision, ruling the board failed to consider what are known as Gladue factors — Ewert’s traumatic childhood and the Indigenous healing process he has undertaken.
The case will now return to the parole board’s appeal division for a new assessment.
Ewert is currently being held in Laval, Que., but asked for day parole at the Salvation Army halfway house in Saskatoon.
The Canadian Press
