Today the Law Society of Manitoba concluded its disciplinary proceedings against Alberta lawyer John Carpay.
In June of 2021, John Carpay made a unilateral decision to hire a private investigator to conduct passive surveillance on Manitoba government officials, in order to ascertain whether they were complying with the Covid restrictions they had imposed on citizens. Mr. Carpay made an error in judgment by including Chief Justice Glenn Joyal in this surveillance.
In July of 2021, Mr. Carpay apologized publicly to Chief Justice Joyal in court for this error in judgement. Since then, Mr. Carpay has fully cooperated with the Law Society of Manitoba, to which the Law Society of Alberta delegated authority to conduct disciplinary proceedings. In September of 2021, Mr. Carpay apologized to the Law Society of Manitoba in writing. In October of 2021, Mr. Carpay wrote a further letter of apology to Chief Justice Joyal. Mr. Carpay remains committed, as always, to the rule of law and to judicial independence.
Mr. Carpay has taken full responsibility for his actions and has accepted the penalty imposed by the Law Society of Manitoba, namely a $5,000 fine and a lifetime suspension on practicing law in Manitoba.
In December of 2022, Mr. Carpay was informed of criminal charges against him related to the same surveillance actions that had occurred 18 months previously. Mr. Carpay denies any criminal wrongdoing and looks forward to resolving the charges against him.
In the past two years, Mr. Carpay has himself paid for his own legal defence, including expenses related to both the Manitoba Law Society proceedings as well as the unexpected criminal charges from December of 2022. No Justice Centre funds have been expended on these matters.
Since these matters arose more than two years ago, the Justice Centre has continued its work of fighting for the Charter rights and freedoms of all Canadians, taking governments across Canada to court, and holding politicians and government officials accountable to the Charter.
For more information on the Justice Centre’s ongoing work to defend Canadians’ constitutional freedoms through litigation and education, please visit www.jccf.ca.
