Judge shuts down feds' application to hear Witness Protection Program lawsuit in private

A judge has denied the federal government's attempt to have a lawsuit concerning the Witness Protection Program heard behind closed doors.

"The courts are public and we start with the presumption of openness and then we start to whittle away at what absolutely needs to be kept confidential," said Chief Justice Martel Popescul at Regina's Court of Queen's Bench on Thursday.

Former police informant Noel Harder is suing the federal government after being kicked out of the Witness Protection Program. 

The federal government applied to have the public and media banned from the courtroom for the entire duration of the lawsuit and from having access to any documents or exhibits involved.

"This is not just a victory for me, but a victory for the entire program and the future of it," said Noel Harder Thursday afternoon.

"I'm just super excited." 

Harder was a member of the Fallen Saints Motorcycle Club in Saskatoon and a convicted drug dealer. 

He worked as a police informant during Project Forseti, which has been called the largest organized crime investigation in Saskatchewan history.

His participation and testimony helped put numerous people involved with motorcycle gangs behind bars. 

But he said the program meant to protect him didn't work. He also has said it failed his family. 

"The only way we were going to be able to ​hold them accountable is if they were held up to account by the court of public opinion," he said. 

The Attorney General of Canada cited the Witness Protection Act, which prohibits identifying the people or tactics used in the program.

Chris Bernier, the lawyer for the federal government, said there is a limited number of officers and civilians trained to work with the program.

"If these names get out there — they're burned." 

Chief Justice Popescul said the case's potential issues could be dealt with in an ongoing series of judgment calls.

He appointed himself case management judge, meaning he'll publicly deal with all sealing requests or redaction matters moving forward.

Popescul said this applies to the lawyers on both sides. 

"Your client is putting potentially himself in jeopardy by going to the media and making this public," he said to Tony Merchant, Harder's lawyer.

"It may be that he has an epiphany and and may decide that he does not want to be as public as he wants it to be."

Merchant said the government tried to close the file because "they don't want people to understand how witness protection really works."

"People are telling me their lives have been ruined, so it's really a scam in a sense," he said.

"We think of witness protection because we see it on television or we see in it the movies and we think it works. It doesn't work for the people."

Merchant said Harder went public to highlight issues with the system.

Merchant disputed the idea that Harder going public puts him at risk, adding the people Harder helped put behind bars already know him.