Suspended lawyer accused of smuggling cannabis into jail

A lawyer who was suspended indefinitely from practising law last month has been charged with smuggling cannabis into a provincial jail, as well as a raft of assault and mischief charges.

RCMP said Tuesday the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team arrested and charged Chad Sutherland, 43, with smuggling cannabis into Headingley Correctional Centre in March 2025. Officers say he also conspired to possess a restricted firearm.

Mounties say on March 30 last year, correctional officers noticed the smell of cannabis and sought to find out who had taken the drug into the jail.

About a week later, investigators identified Sutherland as a suspect and, after proceedings related to the investigation were concluded this month, officers were able to charge him, a news release issued Tuesday says.

Sutherland remains in custody.

RCMP also arrested two suspects related to the smuggling operation. Hunter Audette, 31, and 41-year-old Krystle Richard were charged last year with two counts of conspiring to commit an indictable offence in connection with the investigation. Audette remains in custody.

Court records show Sutherland is also charged with assault and mischief for offences alleged to have occurred July 9, 2025, and four subsequent charges of failing to comply with an undertaking and failing to appear in court. He is also charged with assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm in connection with incidents earlier this month. Sutherland is set to appear in bail court Wednesday.

In 2022, the Bank of Nova Scotia sued Sutherland for repayment of $88,000 in student loans, court documents show. The bank secured a garnishment order against Sutherland who, as of October 2024, had an outstanding debt of $74,000.

Sutherland was suspended indefinitely and fined $6,000 by the Law Society of Manitoba recently for a raft of infractions, including improperly asking a client for cash, failing to show up to court on several occasions and not responding to the law society while it investigated him.

In April 2025, the law society revoked his practising certificate owing to his failure to comply with conditions it had previously imposed on him.

Two months later, Sutherland encountered a former client on the street and asked her repeatedly for money over two days.

He told her the amount he wanted was a “substantial reduction” from what she owed for work he had done when he was associated with a local law firm.

At the time of the indefinite suspension, the law society’s disciplinary committee said Sutherland’s transgressions, while serious, were not worthy of disbarment.

A former client of Sutherland’s is also suing him and the firm he worked for at the time, Gindin Wiebe Segal Law, for $250,000 for “breach of contract, breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, professional negligence and unjust enrichment.”

Sutherland’s former client, Andrew Manning, alleges the lawyer performed no meaningful legal work despite being paid multiple times.

Sutherland was called to the bar in 2018 in Manitoba and had no previous discipline history with the law society. He’s not a member of any other Canadian law society.

Leah Kosokowsky, chief executive officer of the Law Society of Manitoba, called the charges against Sutherland very serious and said the society will follow the cases closely.

When asked if the law society would consider calling for Sutherland’s previous files to be reviewed, Kosokowsky said when he stopped practising law in April 2025, lawyers at his firm would have taken responsibility for reviewing his files.

If any former client has concerns about Sutherland’s conduct while representing them, Kosokowsky encouraged them to contact the law society.

Several partners from Sutherland’s former firm did not respond to a request for comment.

— with files from Dean Pritchard

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca