Convoy lawyers fumble opportunity

The lawyers representing the organizers of the infamous trucker convoy at the Emergencies Act inquiry certainly didn’t do themselves or their clients any favours over the course of the hearings.

But given that some of the legal team was funded by the Calgary-based Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), that should come as no surprise. Its president, John Carpay, is facing professional misconduct charges following a request for a Law Society investigation into lawyers associated with the JCCF by Manitoba’s attorney general.

The call for an investigation was prompted by the revelation that Carpay had hired a private detective to tail Manitoba’s Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, who was presiding over a constitutional challenge brought by Carpay on behalf of the JCCF. Carpay was arguing that charter protections should make Manitoba churches exempt from public health restrictions.

When hecalled for the investigation, Attorney General Cameron Friesen said: “This is an obvious invasion of privacy and it is difficult to believe that these actions were not intended to influence the outcome of the court case.”

Joyal had soon realized he was being watched, even at his residence, and brought it up in court.

Carpay admitted that he had hired the detective to spy on Joyal, as well as several other public figures, to determine if they were following COVID-19 rules and restrictions.

He conceded he had made a serious mistake and apologized. Carpay then stepped away from the JCCF but after about six weeks returned to his former position as president. He eventually lost the case he was arguing before Joyal.

He now faces professional misconduct charges: failure to treat court with candour, fairness, courtesy and respect; undermining the public respect for the administration of justice; and breach of integrity. The hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8 to 10, about the same time Inquiry Commissioner Justice Paul Rouleau will be delivering his findings on the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act.

Last week, JCCF lawyers and others representing the organizers of the so-called Freedom Convoy made it clear they have also been well-schooled in unusual tactics on behalf of their clients. Brendan Miller alleged without evidence that during the truck convoy’s three-week occupation of Ottawa, the Liberal government had planted a provocateur to carry a Nazi flag and that a photographer who had ties to the Liberals took his photo and distributed it to make the protesters look bad. As if the government needed to go to all that trouble. Miller had already been thrown out of the hearing for an afternoon after repeatedly interrupting Rouleau. Rouleau later called Miller’s line of questions about the false flag a “fishing expedition” but even then Miller wouldn’t drop the conspiracy theory.

Perhaps the Freedom Convoy’s legal team was worried about what Miller would say when it was its turn to cross-examine Justin Trudeau because the job was turned over to JCCF lawyer Eva Chipiuk.

Rather than use her precious time to interrogate Trudeau about his rationale for declaring the Emergencies Act, which enabled the police to break up the truck blockades, she read statements by people claiming to have suffered because of pandemic restrictions.

Chipiuk then asked Trudeau when “he and his government became so afraid of their own citizens”; not exactly a serious question, more of a statement.

At the end of her summary statement Chipiuk said, “if ever there was a time for a prime minister to step down, now is that time,” which sounded like a polite way of saying what the convoy crowd meant with their F - - - Trudeau banners.

The Emergencies Act inquiry provided a rare opportunity for serious and detailed examination of the federal government’s frame of mind and rationale for imposing such severe measures to cope with the occupation of Ottawa and border blockades.

Instead, the lawyers for the convoy organizers couldn’t seem to resist playing to their supporters by invoking outlandish conspiracy theories.

Not a wise decision.

Rather than use her precious time to interrogate Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his rationale for declaring the Emergencies Act, ‘Freedom Convoy’ lawyer Eva Chipiuk read statements by people claiming to have suffered because of pandemic restrictions