Lawyers who had Manitoba judge followed to face review in Alta.
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WINNIPEG —Two Alberta lawyers banned from practising in Manitoba after they hired a private investigator to spy on a judge in 2021 will face disciplinary proceedings in their home province.
In a written decision issued last month, the Law Society of Alberta dismissed an application by lawyers John Carpay and Jay Cameron to bar the society from seeking further sanctions against them.
Carpay and Cameron had argued that under terms of a National Mobility Agreement allowing them at the time to practise in Manitoba and the Law Society of Alberta’s own rules, it had no jurisdiction to discipline them as they had faced sanction in Manitoba.
John Carpay, one of two Alberta-based lawyers who were banned from practising in Manitoba for hiring a private investigator to follow a chief judge. The lawyers have lost an attempt to avoid discipline in Alberta. (The Canadian Press files)
“Adopting the lawyers’ interpretation of the NMA and rules would result in the untenable situation that the (Law Society of Alberta) is unable to remove from its rolls a lawyer who is unsuitable for practice,” a law society hearing committee wrote in a decision dated March 11.
“That cannot be what the drafters of the NMA and rules intended, or what the government expects when it affords lawyers the privilege of self-regulation,” the committee said.
A disciplinary hearing before the Alberta Law Society has been set for May 28.
Carpay, then president of the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, and Cameron, a lawyer with the centre, represented seven Manitoba churches that tried in 2021 to overturn Manitoba public health orders that prevented in-person religious service during the pandemic.
Carpay temporarily stepped down as president of the centre after admitting during the churches’ court challenge that he’d hired a private investigator to follow Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench.
Cameron claimed at the time he had only known about the plan for a couple of weeks, but later admitted he was the one to suggest Carpay hire a private investigator.
Joyal later rejected the churches’ challenge when he ruled the public health orders didn’t violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that a provincial public health officer had the authority to issue the orders.
Carpay pleaded guilty to breach of integrity before the Law Society of Manitoba, while Cameron admitted to professional misconduct. They were banned from practising law in Manitoba for life and fined $5,000 each. The society didn’t have jurisdiction to disbar them.
Carpay and Cameron faced criminal charges of attempting to intimidate a justice system participant and attempting to obstruct justice, but the charges were stayed after they agreed to a peace bond barring them from practising law anywhere in Canada for three years.
» Winnipeg Free Press