EDMONTON — Alberta's law society has formally reprimanded former provincial justice minister Kaycee Madu and ordered him to pay nearly $39,000 in costs.
Madu was found guilty last year of conduct worthy of sanction when, as justice minister in 2021, he phoned Edmonton's police chief after receiving a traffic ticket.
He told a hearing last year that he didn't call Chief Dale McFee about the ticket, but instead was looking for reassurance that he wasn't being racially profiled or illegally surveilled.
A panel of law society members determined last fall that Madu's actions were irresponsible, and that he tried to use his position of power to influence a personal issue.
"Mr. Madu's duties required him to avoid even the perception of impropriety," the panel wrote in its October decision.
On Monday, the panel issued the former United Conservative Party cabinet minister a formal reprimand and ordered him to cover hearing costs.
Other penalties that could have been imposed included a fine, licence suspension or disbarment. But the law society and Madu's lawyer jointly recommended the reprimand and order to pay costs.
The reprimand, which panel chair Tamela Coates read aloud during the virtual hearing Monday, is to go on Madu's conduct record as a member of the law society.
"You have failed in your commitment and obligations as a lawyer," Coates told Madu, adding that he should consider the reprimand to be more than just words.
"Your conduct has been found markedly wanting, and this reprimand is intended to convey the strongest possible message to you."
Madu's lawyer, Perry Mack, asked that the guilty verdict and publicly available hearing report stand as the reprimand itself. The panel rejected that request.
Mack argued the public attention the case garnered was punishment enough.
He said Madu continues to face "the perpetual punishment of the internet" for his actions. He said his client has already suffered professional consequences, including being removed from the justice portfolio in 2022 by then-premier Jason Kenney and losing his Edmonton legislature seat to the NDP in 2023.
Madu remained in Kenney's cabinet as labour and immigration minister after the shuffle, and Madu went on to briefly serve as deputy premier to Danielle Smith.
"Further reprimand serves no practical purpose," Mack told the panel Monday.
Ken McEwan, who represented the law society during the hearing, disagreed with Mack's request, saying it would be an "unprecedented" choice.
McEwan said that the facts of the case, namely that Madu was Alberta's top lawyer at the time of the phone call, meant that an extra effort needed to be made to ensure that any sanctions he faced weren't seen as unusual.
McEwan said there weren't any previous law society cases in Canada that dealt with misconduct as "unique" as Madu's.
He said a reprimand would serve to restore the public's "faith in the administration of justice" and restore "integrity of the profession" of lawyers in Alberta.
Madu, who appeared in the virtual hearing Monday but didn't speak, is appealing the panel's guilty verdict.
In a statement Monday put on social media, Madu reiterated that he never asked McFee to do something about the ticket he received.
"I never asked for the ticket issued by the police officer to be cancelled, I only raised a reasonable concern about two issues — racial profiling and police surveillance," Madu said.
"I continue to maintain my innocence."
The nearly $39,000 in costs he has been ordered to pay are considered stayed until a decision is made on the appeal.
Since leaving government Madu, has been working as a lawyer in private practice in Edmonton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025.
Jack Farrell, The Canadian Press
