Kaycee Madu Is the Focus of a Two-Year Criminal Probe

Former Alberta justice minister Kaycee Madu has been under investigation by the RCMP since June 2022 for attempted obstruction of justice related to a phone call he made to Edmonton’s police chief over a traffic ticket.

Madu is the first justice minister in the province’s history to be criminally investigated for his conduct while in office. He is also one of three former Alberta justice ministers who recently faced disciplinary hearings before the Law Society of Alberta at the same time.

Madu, Alberta’s first Black justice minister and solicitor general, lost his Edmonton-South West riding in the May 2023 provincial election and is now setting up a law practice. His was the lone United Conservative Party riding in Edmonton.

Reached at his law office Tuesday, Madu declined to comment except to say he expects to be exonerated and has retained a lawyer to defend him.

“All I have done in all of my time in politics is to serve my province, and I did it with honour and integrity,” Madu said. “I am confident about our justice system. I am confident about my innocence.”

Triggered by private prosecution

The person who apparently triggered Madu’s criminal investigation and law society disciplinary hearing is Peter Downing, a high-profile critic of COVID restrictions who led a movement to separate Alberta from Canada.

As a cabinet minister, Madu was part of a government that imposed COVID restrictions as the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals in Alberta.

But in September 2022, Madu, who was then labour and immigration minister, ignited a firestorm of criticism when he publicly supported people who had defied pandemic restrictions.

In a post on X, Madu praised “freedom convoys” for challenging “tyrannical” federal COVID restrictions, including vaccination requirements for international travel.

Critics pointed out that Madu issued the tweet months after four protesters at Coutts, Alberta, were variously charged with conspiracy to commit murder, possession of weapons for a dangerous purpose and mischief over $5,000.

It never was about science but about political control and power. Thanks to all those citizens, freedom convoys, who had the courage to mobilize against these tyrannical policies. They endured a lot hate, name calling, suffered and vilified on behalf of all of us. I thank them! https://t.co/E9talumDtW

— Kaycee Madu, KC, ECA (@KayceeMaduYEG) September 20, 2022

Yet both the criminal and law society complaints were filed by Downing, the former Wexit Canada party leader who urged that Alberta become its own nation.

In an interview, Downing, who now disavows separatism, said he was angry that Madu’s ministry had pursued charges against business owners, pastors and others who had defied COVID restrictions.

“I was pissed off that this guy was out there during COVID-19 causing pastors to get arrested, and here he is trying to tilt justice in his own favour,” Downing said. “It was about hypocrisy more than anything else.”

Emails from RCMP investigator

Downing provided The Tyee with emails that show that Alberta Justice referred Madu’s case to the RCMP for investigation in June 2022. The case was referred after Downing agreed with a suggestion from James Pickard, a deputy chief of special prosecutions, to withdraw a private prosecution he had filed against Madu in an Edmonton court.

“All I did was take former [Alberta Court of King’s Bench] justice Adèle Kent's report that said he attempted to obstruct justice, and the attempt is just as much of a crime as actually doing it,” said Downing, a former RCMP officer.

“And basically, I just wanted to hold him to the exact same standards as anybody else.”

A spokesperson for the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service said it "advised the court that a formal police investigation would be needed before the Crown is able to assess whether this file meets the ACPS standard for prosecution."

Madu's case was referred outside of the Edmonton Police Service "to avoid any appearance of conflict given Chief [Dale] McFee’s involvement."

In January 2022, then UCP premier Jason Kenney forced Madu to step down after CBC first reported Madu had called Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee on March 10, 2021, about a $300 distracted driving ticket he received.

Kenney also ordered an internal review by Kent, a highly respected retired Court of King’s Bench justice from Calgary.

About six weeks later, Kenney removed Madu as justice minister after Kent’s internal investigation found he had attempted to interfere with the administration of justice.

An acknowledgment letter from the law society, dated March 29, 2022, shows Downing filed the complaint that resulted in a law society disciplinary hearing for Madu held in June this year. The ruling in that case has yet to be released.

The law society recently cleared former UCP justice minister Tyler Shandro of three citations related to professional misconduct. The ruling for former Conservative justice minister Jonathan Denis has yet to be released.

Downing provided The Tyee with emails between himself and Insp. Erick Youngstrom, the senior RCMP officer assigned to the investigation. The emails show Youngstrom sought an outside Crown attorney from Ontario who had reviewed Downing’s private information charge and Kent’s report.

“It’s not quite as straightforward as I anticipated it might be, and [I] have some research and investigating to do,” Youngstrom told Downing in an Aug. 12, 2022, email.

“I will likely have to retrace Justice Kent’s steps and seek some documentation from various entities. Whether or not any Judicial Authorizations will be necessary remains to be seen.”

In a March 2023 email, Youngstrom confirmed the investigation was ongoing.

“This matter is still under investigation with a number of interviews having been completed. Additional steps are required, which may include more interviews,” Youngstrom wrote.

“I don’t have a definitive timeline, but am in the process of seeking some additional documentation/information to help myself and advisory Crown counsel gain a fulsome understanding to help inform next steps.”

By June 2024 however, Youngstrom still had not obtained all the relevant documents he needed for the investigation. Youngstrom told Downing in an email that he expected to meet with justice officials and with Kent in relation to the documents and he was also awaiting the completion of Madu’s law society hearing.

“The documents I am writing an affidavit to obtain, and likely the law society hearing and its outcome, will both factor into the assessment our out-of-province advisory Crown will provide with respect to whether or not they support criminal charges/prosecution based on the totality of the evidence,” Youngstrom told Downing.

Youngstrom also said he would be seeking a production order for documents held by Madu, Kent and the Justice Ministry.

“We are all working together to ensure I get what I need while ensuring there are proper mitigations in place to protect privileged information and cabinet confidences,” Youngstrom wrote. “The good news is that nobody is opposing this step, including Mr. Madu via his counsel.”

Youngstrom said he expected the investigation to be completed by July 15, “barring the unforeseen,” and he hoped the Crown’s “review process” would move quickly after that.

But in a July 24 email, Youngstrom told Downing that a Calgary judge had just granted his production order that day.

“I will acquire those materials in the near term, and will then be in a position to send the investigation in its entirety to an advisory Crown counsel outside Alberta for assistance in determining what charges, if any, ought to be sworn,” Youngstrom’s email said.

Youngstrom told Downing he was “cautiously optimistic” that he could send the complete package of evidence to the Ontario prosecutor by September.

“But there are a few moving parts outside my control that could push that timeline back. You may be aware this matter has had some additional media coverage recently discussing Law Society hearings into the same circumstances.”

Downing said he decided to publicly disclose the RCMP investigation of Madu because he noticed a trend that RCMP investigations of conservative politicians in Alberta took “ridiculous” amounts of time.

An RCMP investigation of allegations of voter fraud and identity theft in the 2017 UCP leadership contest took more than five years and resulted in no charges.

The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment.

University of Alberta political scientist Jared Wesley said the behaviour that led to the law society hearing and now the criminal investigation is part of an ongoing political narrative in Alberta.

“There is a group of high-ranking United Conservatives that see themselves as being above the law and even when their time in office is over, the investigations continue,” he said.

“It is definitely a scar on the party, but also a scar on the province and provincial institutions and politicians in general, and it is something that you hope won't happen again.”

If you have any information for this story, or information for another story, please contact Charles Rusnell in confidence via email.

Read more: Politics, Alberta