Feds want to bar public from courtroom during Witness Protection Program lawsuit

​The federal government wants to ban the public from a Regina courtroom during proceedings in a lawsuit about the Witness Protection Program, a move one of the lawyers involved calls "atrocious."

"Under the guise of claiming safety, they're trying to protect their program from bad publicity," said Tony Merchant, who is representing former police informant Noel Harder.

Harder was kicked out of witness protection earlier this year and is now suing the government.

Harder said the RCMP and government broke countless promises. He said he has the right to be heard in open court and the public has a right to hear whether the program is actually working.

The federal government wants the entire case to be heard in private, with the public and media banned from the courtroom. A Regina Court of Queen's Bench justice will hear arguments about the ban Thursday.

The ban application also asks that the public and media be prohibited from seeing any of the files or exhibits associated with the lawsuit. The government cites the Witness Protection Act, which prohibits identifying the people or covert methods associated with the program.

"The Attorney General of Canada applies for an Order that names in the Statement of Claim be anonymized, that the Statement of Claim and all subsequent pleadings and documents in the within proceeding be sealed, and that any court proceedings related to this action be held in camera," states the application.

'I think it's a make-believe claim'

Harder said the Act also states witnesses are allowed to talk about their own experience. He said he wants people to know what he and his family went through. He said the program is so secretive that witnesses have little recourse when treated unfairly. Airing the details in open court is the only way to get justice and to make officials accountable, he said.

Harder said the names of undercover police could be kept private, but that the blanket ban is excessive.

"I really don't know what their concern is. I think it's a make-believe claim that they fall back on," Harder said.

No one from the federal justice department returned a CBC News interview request Tuesday.

Harder worked as a police informant during Project Forseti, the largest organized crime investigation in Saskatchewan history.

His intelligence gathering and testimony led to the conviction of more than a dozen members of the Hells Angels and other organizations.

Harder and his family were placed in witness protection. His wife and children were allowed to remain in protection but he was kicked out this spring.

Harder remains in hiding in a secret location.