Lawyers who had Manitoba judge followed to face review in Alberta

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/04/2025 (200 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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.

“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 had 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.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Head Start

Weekday Mornings

A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day.

Sign up for Head Start

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

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 one count of breach of integrity before the Law Society of Manitoba, while Cameron admitted to professional misconduct.

The men were banned from practising law in Manitoba for life and fined $5,000 each. The law society did not have the 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.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.