Alberta lawyers who had Manitoba judge tailed lose bid to avoid law society discipline in their province

Two Alberta lawyers who hired a private investigator to follow the Manitoba judge who presided over their case challenging COVID-19 restrictions in 2021 have lost their bid to avoid possible law society discipline in their province.

Jay Cameron and John Carpay argued they shouldn't have to face potential censure by the Law Society of Alberta because they had already been punished for their actions by Manitoba's legal regulator, which in 2023 barred them from practising in that province and ordered them to pay $5,000.

The lawyers argued Alberta's law society "exhausted its jurisdiction" when it allowed Manitoba's regulator to conduct the initial investigation and proceedings, and that proceeding with its own now "amounts to "double discipline" and is an abuse of process,'" a Law Society of Alberta hearing committee decision released last month says. 

However, the decision concluded, going along with that interpretation "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," and noted the Manitoba proceedings determined that province's law society didn't have the jurisdiction to suspend or disbar Alberta lawyers.

Cameron and Carpay were charged with attempting to obstruct justice and intimidation of a justice system participant after hiring a private investigator to follow Manitoba Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, who was presiding over a case against pandemic rules brought forward by seven rural Manitoba churches represented by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which the accused both worked for.

Both lawyers were in October 2023 barred from practising law in Canada for three years as part of a plea deal with Manitoba prosecutors that saw their charges stayed in a case that involved behaviour a judge called "nothing short of an affront on the administration of justice."

Wanted to prove public health rules arbitrary

Court heard in 2023 Carpay hired a private investigation firm to tail several Manitoba officials in addition to Joyal, including Dr. Brent Roussin, chief provincial public health officer, and then-premier Brian Pallister.

Cameron, whose professional corporation had been retained by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, had proposed using any proof of public officials breaching public health rules in an affidavit to potentially support an argument that the orders were arbitrary, court heard.

Joyal revealed in court that he was being followed while the COVID-19 challenge case was being heard in July 2021. He said he noticed he was being tailed by someone in a black vehicle and tried to confront them as they avoided eye contact, court heard.

After a break in that hearing, Carpay said his organization had retained the investigator. Both he and Cameron apologized for the error in judgment.

At some point after that, court heard, Carpay deleted the entire contents of his email account, including all correspondence with the private investigator. Cameron also later directed the investigator to stop all surveillance "and delete everything."

Cameron and Carpay's lawyers previously said their clients didn't intend to obstruct justice or intimidate, and that they were taking steps they "believed to be appropriate at the time."

Joyal ultimately found the province's public health orders were reasonable limitations on the group's Charter rights in the context of the pandemic, and that Manitoba's chief public health officer did have the authority to execute them.

Cameron and Carpay's law society hearing in Alberta is scheduled for May 28, the law society decision says.