John Carpay

Last updated
John Carpay
Born
Citizenship Canada
Alma mater Université Laval
University of Calgary
Occupation(s)Lawyer, and President of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms

John Carpay is a Netherlands-born Canadian lawyer, the president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, and a newspaper columnist.

Contents

In 2021, Carpay made Canadian news and took a leave of absence from the JCCF after he hired a private investigator to follow the Manitoba chief justice who was presiding over a COVID-19 related court case in which Carpay was legal counsel.

Early life and education

Carpay was born in the Netherlands, before moving to British Columbia, Canada. [1]

He has a bachelor of arts in political science from Université Laval and an Bachelor of Laws from the University of Calgary. [1] [2]

Career and advocacy

He was called to the bar in 1999. [1] [2] He worked in civil litigation with Calgary legal firm Rooney Prentice [2] before working for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation conservative advocacy organization [1] [3] and as the executive director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation. [4]

As of 2023, Carpay was the president of Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, [5] which he founded in 2010. [6] The organisation describes its mission to defend "the constitutional freedoms of Canadians through litigation and education." [7]

Carpay has written columns for The National Post, The Calgary Herald , and Huffington Post. [3]

In 2021, Carpay supported seven churches in their legal bid to fight COVID-19 public health regulations, and during that time, he hired a private investigator to follow Manitoba chief justice Glenn Joyal. [7] [8] Those actions prompted a misconduct complaint from human rights lawyer Richard Warman and critique from University of Alberta's vice dean of law Eric Adams, who described the action as a "tremendous, tremendous lapse of judgment." [7] Carpay took indefinite leave from the JCCF in July 2021, before being reinstated as president in August 2021. [7] Six of the nine members of the board of directors resigned following his reinstatement. [4] An arrest warrant for was issued by Winnipeg Police in December 2022, prompting Carpay to present himself to Calgary Police Service, where he was arrested on December 30 [9] [10] before being released the next day. [11] Carpay has been charged with "intimidation of a justice system participant and attempting to obstruct justice." [5] The Law Society of Manitoba will bring professional misconduct against Carpay at a February 2023 hearing in Winnipeg. [5]

On August 21 2023, The Law Society of Manitoba barred from practising in the province and ordered him to pay $5,000. In his statement Carpay said, “I fully acknowledge that my instructing surveillance of Chief Justice (Glenn) Joyal was in violation of my professional obligations as a lawyer to the court and to society,” [12]



Politics

In 2018, Carpay drew criticism from Jason Kenny for comparing the LGBT flag to a swastika [13] in a discussion on Rebel Media, for which he later apologised. [14]

Carpay ran for the Reform Party in 1993 [15] and the Wildrose Party in 2012. [3] Carpay is a member of the United Conservative Party of Alberta. [13] [16]

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References

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