Madu Won’t Face Charges. He Blames His Ordeal on a ‘Conspiracy’

Kaycee Madu, Alberta’s former justice minister, is alleging he was the victim of a racist “witch hunt” after a three-year RCMP criminal investigation into an allegation of attempted obstruction of justice ended with no charge being laid.

The RCMP Tuesday confirmed a prosecutor from outside Alberta had determined there was “no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”

“Thank you for letting me know,” said Madu, who learned about the culmination of the investigation from The Tyee.

“From the get-go I have been of the view that this was a witch-hunt investigation,” Madu said.

Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney forced Madu to step down in January 2022 after CBC revealed the justice minister had 10 months earlier called then-Edmonton police chief Dale McFee immediately following a traffic stop in which he was cited for being on his cellphone in a school zone. (McFee retired from the Edmonton Police Service in February to take a job as Alberta’s top civil servant.)

Kenney removed Madu as justice minister after an internal investigation by a retired judge found he had attempted to interfere with the administration of justice.

In July 2024, The Tyee first reported that Madu had become the third Alberta justice minister to be cited by the Law Society of Alberta.

A month later, in August 2024, The Tyee revealed Madu had been the subject of an RCMP criminal investigation since June 2022. The investigation followed the filing of a private prosecution against Madu by Peter Downing, a former Mountie who was a high-profile critic of COVID restrictions and led a movement to separate Alberta from Canada.

Downing has said the law society investigation and citation had also resulted from a complaint he made. But The Tyee has learned it was a complaint from David Harrigan, the director of labour relations for the United Nurses of Alberta, that resulted in the law society citation.

Harrigan confirmed Tuesday that he had made a complaint. But he said he knew several others also had made complaints and he was unaware that his had led to the citation.

‘I’d be on the street right now’: Madu

Madu told The Tyee that the province’s justice system had not worked as it was supposed to.

“Someone who held an extreme political view was mad at me because I was one of the persons responsible for locking down the province, arresting pastors, and therefore he felt I should have been charged for an innocent phone call that I made to the chief of police.”

Downing told The Tyee he was told on Monday there would be no charges against Madu by the senior RCMP officer who conducted the investigation.

“Unfortunately, there are not enough people in Canada who care enough about justice — or can even agree upon what it means — to make an effective difference,” said Downing.

Madu said the review by the judge, the law society hearing and the criminal investigation have taken a toll on him and his family.

“If I was not a lawyer, I would be living on the street right now. They knew exactly what they were doing,” Madu said, insisting he was the victim of a “conspiracy.”

“The extent of the damage that these people have done to myself, professionally, and my reputation, my family, if I didn't come from a strong value background, my family would have been scattered because of this,” he said.

Madu’s wife, Emem, is also a lawyer. In January, United Conservative Party Justice Minister Mickey Amery appointed her as a provincial court judge.

“If I didn't have a wife who understood what was going on, my marriage would have ended because of all of these things, which is what they wanted. They wanted to inflict the maximum damage and pain on an innocent man, simply because he made an innocent phone call and asked for nothing.”

Eight-minute call at centre of case

An Edmonton Police Service traffic officer stopped Madu one morning while he was on his way to work at the legislature. The officer said he saw the justice minister on his cellphone while driving in a school zone.

Madu vehemently denied that but has said he heeded the advice of senior political staffers and paid the $300 fine rather than fight the charge in court.

Minutes after the traffic stop, Madu asked one of his staff to obtain the cell number of then-Edmonton police chief McFee.

In an eight-minute call, Madu, who is Black and an immigrant from Nigeria, said he wanted to ascertain from McFee whether he might have been profiled. Both Madu and McFee said Madu did not ask for the ticket to be quashed.

A law society hearing panel found Madu guilty of professional misconduct and sharply rebuked him. They said his call to McFee “undermined respect for the administration of justice.”

The panel issued a reprimand and levied costs of nearly $39,000. Madu, however, has appealed the misconduct finding, and the law society has stayed the costs until the appeal is decided. A date for the hearing has yet to be set.

Records appear to show the ticket was in error

Madu had previously provided phone records to The Tyee that appear to show he was not on any of his cellphones at the time he was stopped.

“My view from Day 1 has always been the moment the law society found out that there was no evidence whatsoever supporting the fact that I was on my phone, that should have been the end of the matter.”

Both the judge who reviewed his case and the law society panel said he displayed poor judgment, but Madu rejects that criticism.

Madu said he only paid the ticket based on political advice but he believed he had been illegally stopped because he was a Black man.

“This wasn't a bad judgment call. This was a man trying to understand what the hell led to his illegal targeting.”

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