Image Credit: The Canadian Press / File Photo

By James Peters

David Ennis

Petition launched to keep notorious Wells Gray killer behind bars

Oct 15, 2025 | 3:00 PM

BOWDEN, AB. — Ten months before his next scheduled parole hearing, an online petition has been launched calling for mass murderer David Ennis to remain behind bars.

Ennis was convicted of terrorizing and killing six members of the same family near Wells Gray Provincial Park in 1982. He has been in prison since his conviction and his next parole hearing is scheduled for August 2026.

Ennis, who was known as David Shearing at the time of the killings, was denied parole at his last hearing in 2021.

At the time, the Parole Board of Canada noted persistent concerns with his lack of rehabilitation.

The petition, hosted on change.org, states there is still too much public safety risk associated with allowing Ennis to be out in public.

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“The risk associated with granting him parole far outweighs any argument for his potential rehabilitation,” says petition organizer Tammy Arishenkoff.

Ennis has been denied parole three times and has waived his right to a hearing a further three times since he first became eligible in 2008.

Before he was denied parole in 2021, a similar petition gathered more than 100,000 signatures.