Madu was the province’s justice minister at the time he was pulled over for distracted driving and placed a phone call to Edmonton’s police chief soon after the incident
Lawyers for former justice minister and deputy premier Kaycee Madu defended his 2021 phone call to Edmonton’s police chief at the start of a three-day Law Society of Alberta tribunal hearing on Monday.
The former minister is accused of professional misconduct stemming from the March 10, 2021, call to Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee that came minutes after Madu was issued a distracted driving ticket near his south Edmonton home.
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The law society cited Madu last July, stating his call “undermined respect for the administration of justice.”
“The respondent’s conduct was both incompatible with the public’s interests and the best interests of the legal profession,” law society lawyer Ken McEwan argued before the hearing’s three-person panel.
“As members of the legal profession, lawyers enjoy special status, and the conduct that departs from the high standard required to maintain the reputation of the profession cannot be condoned.”
Madu’s lawyer, Perry Mack, countered that the context around the case and the phone call is important to consider.
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Mack argued that Madu, as Canada’s first Black justice minister, had then been working on the issue of carding and had also recently learned of the surveillance of former environment minister Shannon Phillips by Lethbridge police.
“The ticket and the traffic stop may have been the prompt of the call but it was not the purpose of the call,” Mack said.
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“The call to the police chief has to be seen as an extension of that legitimate political process.
Did I just experience what my constituents and what the town halls have been telling me about, Mack said Madu asked the chief.
Madu was largely expressionless as he watched the hearing via Zoom from an office.
Following media reports of the ticket, he was asked to step back from ministerial duties in January 2022 by then-premier Jason Kenney while retired justice Adèle Kent investigated the incident.
Kent’s report found that while Madu tried to interfere in the administration of justice, he was ultimately unsuccessful although the call created “a reasonable perception” of interference in the justice system.
Mack sought to have the report ruled inadmissible to the law society hearing but that argument was rejected.
In their opening statements, both lawyers recounted the traffic stop and subsequent call.
McEwan described how Madu had been driving along Windermere Road when a constable observed the minister on one of his three phones inside the vehicle.
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He added that Madu identified himself as the justice minister to the constable more than once during their interaction.
Mack noted that while Madu was unhappy, he did not ask the constable to rip up the ticket.
About 20 minutes after being pulled over, Madu drove to a Superstore parking lot and had an eight-minute phone call with McFee.
“He wanted to be assured that he had not been pulled over because of carding. And, he wanted to be assured that this was somehow not related to Lethbridge,” Mack said.
McFee told Madu he had not been racially profiled, or surveilled, and had to either pay or dispute the ticket, McEwan said.
Mack stated the ticket was paid within two days.
McFee appeared as a witness at the hearing, and told the panel he was on a holiday at a hotel in Canmore when he agreed to take Madu’s call.
He said Madu was cordial at the start of the conversation and that they discussed his fears of being targeted either for his race or his position as a politician.
“He was concerned, and he was expressing his concern,” McFee said. “There was no raised voices or anything like that.”
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Madu did not ask to have the ticket cancelled, McFee said, adding that he explained to the minster his choices were limited.
“The ticket really has two options — tell the story in court or pay the ticket,” McFee said of the call.
“It didn’t take us too long, I think, to get there.”
Following the conversation with Madu, McFee said he phoned his chief of staff and the chair of the police commission to inform them of what had happened.
“You don’t want to surprise your boss.”
Madu is the third former Alberta justice minister to face misconduct allegations before the law society.
Jonathan Denis appeared before a tribunal in April after allegedly acting for a person while in a conflict of interest.
Tyler Shandro was accused of inappropriately contacting two Red Deer doctors on their personal phones and appearing on a Calgary doctor’s driveway to confront him about a social media post.
Decisions in both hearings were reserved and have yet to be published.
Madu’s hearing is scheduled to continue Tuesday afternoon before wrapping up Wednesday.
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