Eileen E. Gillese

Eileen E. Gillese is a justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. She is a graduate of the University of Alberta and Oxford University. Before her appointment to the Court of Appeal, Gillese was a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.^[1]

Gillese earned a Commerce degree at the University of Alberta in 1977, then won a Rhodes Scholarship, which had just opened up to women, and studied law at Wadham College, Oxford, earning a BA Hons. Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Civil Law.^[2][3]

Before her judicial appointments Gillese articled and practised in Edmonton,^[2] then was Dean and Professor of Law of the Faculty of Law, the University of Western Ontario (1983–1999).^[4]

Gillese was appointed commissioner of the Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System by the Government of Ontario on August 1, 2017.^[5] The inquiry was established to investigate the circumstances surrounding serial killer nurse Elizabeth Wettlaufer's crimes and gaps in legislative or policy frameworks that allowed Wettlaufer to continue working as a nurse even after other serious workplace problems became apparent.^[6]

Gillese served as the second chancellor of Brescia University College from 2015 until 2019.^[7]

She holds honorary LLD Degrees from the Law Society of Upper Canada and from the University of Alberta.^[3]