(LifeSiteNews) – The anti-lockdown president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) was fined $5,000 and banned for life from practicing law in the province of Manitoba because he hired a private investigator in 2021 to tail a judge to determine whether he was complying with COVID dictates.

The JCCF announced in a press release today that the “Law Society of Manitoba concluded its disciplinary proceedings against” John Carpay.

“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,” the JCCF said.

Carpay took a two-month leave of absence from his role as JCCF president in early July 2021 after admitting he had Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench and other government officials followed by a private investigator to see whether they were breaking local COVID rules.

In Canada, according to Investigation Hotline, hiring a private detective is legal as long as certain rules are followed and the investigator is licensed to practice in the province where the investigation takes place.

The JCCF noted that in July 2021 Carpay “apologized publicly to Chief Justice Joyal in court for this error in judgment.”

“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,” the JCCF stated.

Carpay recently described in detail his nearly full day spent in a Calgary jail after being arrested for having a Manitoba judge followed in 2021 during the height of the COVID crisis.

He was made aware on December 30, 2022, that Winnipeg Police had issued an arrest warrant for him over the 2021 incident in which he had hired a private investigator to keep tabs on a judge after receiving tips that the judge had been flouting COVID rules.

He has denied any criminal wrongdoing and has noted that he paid for his legal defense with his own funds.

The JCCF has been one of Canada’s most prominent legal groups over the last three years, having taken to court various government departments and officials over their imposition of draconian COVID mandates.

The JCCF says it has “been active in response to governments’ severe COVID lockdowns and restrictions which stopped Canadians from gathering, worshiping, associating, working, traveling and peaceful assembly.”