Alberta regulator disbars Calgary lawyers who had Manitoba judge followed during COVID

Two Calgary lawyers who hired a private investigator to follow a Manitoba judge overseeing a case involving COVID-19 public health restrictions in 2021 have been disbarred by the Law Society of Alberta.

John Carpay, president of the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, and Randal Jay Cameron, a lawyer who did work for the centre, were permanently barred from practising law in this province by the Law Society of Manitoba in 2023.

Both lawyers represented seven churches in 2021 that tried to overturn Manitoba public health orders preventing in-person religious services during the pandemic.

During the court challenge, the lawyers hired a private investigator to follow Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, who was overseeing the case, in a bid to see if he was violating the restrictions. The private eye was also meant to tail then-premier Brian Pallister and chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin.

In decisions issued Tuesday, the Law Society of Alberta barred both men from practising law in that province after finding them guilty of professional misconduct for failing to act with honour and integrity over the hiring of the private eye. They’ve also been ordered to pay costs.

“We have concluded that there is no disciplinary measure short of disbarment that can achieve the ‘most fundamental’ goal of maintaining the reputation of the profession,” the regulator’s decisions read.

“The public must know that lawyers do not and cannot engage in this misconduct.”

The Alberta law society took issue with Carpay’s testimony at his misconduct hearing in May, saying it was rife with inconsistencies in its Tuesday decision.

Joyal eventually ruled against the Manitoba churches. He said the public health orders did not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and public health officers had the authority to issue the orders.

The justice centre called the Alberta regulator’s decision to disbar Carpay a “vindictive abuse of process” in a statement on its website.

Cameron and Carpay are also serving a three-year ban from practising law across the country, stemming from a peace bond the men entered into as a plea deal to have criminal charges of obstructing justice and intimidating a justice system participant withdrawn.

The peace bond is set to expire in October 2026.

Cameron’s lawyer argued in May at the Alberta regulatory hearing that his client should just be suspended until the end of the peace bond. Carpay’s lawyer sought a two-year suspension.

Carpay tried to resign from the Alberta law society in December 2023, but the resignation was not accepted amid disciplinary proceedings in that province, the justice centre said.

In a written decision issued earlier this year, the Law Society of Alberta dismissed an application by Carpay and Cameron to bar the society from seeking the 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.

“The (Law Society of Alberta’s) decision to refuse Mr. Carpay’s resignation, and to commence brand new disciplinary proceedings over the same issues after delegating the matter to the (Law Society of Manitoba), is a vindictive and petty abuse of process,” said the centre’s statement, which also noted it has no staff lawyers.

“Mr. Carpay has not practised law for years. He last appeared in court on behalf of a client in 2015.”

Carpay told the Alberta regulator at his misconduct hearing in May that the decision to hire the private investigator was the worst judgment error he “ever made” in his legal career.

The statement on the centre’s website, however, defended the decision as an attempt to “illuminate a legitimate public policy question.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca