Informant files suit over leak of identity

VANCOUVER • Two years after a woman gave RCMP in B.C. key information that thwarted an alleged murder plot, she got an ominous call from authorities: she was in danger.

RCMP had inadvertently revealed the informant’s identity in paperwork disclosed to the suspects’ lawyers, according to a lawsuit filed this month in Federal Court.

The woman and her husband — identified as “Jane Doe” and “John Doe” in court records — are now each seeking $1.8 million in compensation for mental and emotional distress, dislocation and loss of enjoyment of life. The Attorney General of Canada is named as the defendant.

The lawsuit alleges that in 2014, the woman provided information to RCMP on the understanding her identity would be protected. As a result of that information, RCMP arrested and charged three people.

“The information provided by Jane Doe allowed the RCMP to prevent a murder or attempted murder,” the lawsuit states.

RCMP paid the woman a $10,000 reward. In August 2016, the woman got a call from the RCMP telling her that she was in danger, the lawsuit states.

“As it was explained to Jane Doe, information that effectively identified Jane Doe as a confidential human source (“CHS”) was included in materials disclosed to one or more of the suspects who had been the subjects of the arrests.”

At the time, at least one of the suspects was out on bail. “Further, the suspects were themselves part of or connected to organized crime groups and posed a grave threat and danger to Jane Doe and her family members,” the plaintiffs allege.

From August 2016 to March 2018, Jane Doe and her husband lived “in various places” outside of their regular home and in “protective custody.”

There was a discussion with RCMP about whether the couple should be placed in the federal Witness Protection Program. The program, which is administered by the RCMP, is available to “victims, compromised informants, police agents or independent witnesses who receive a threat of intimidation or violence,” according to the RCMP website.

But according to the lawsuit, RCMP ultimately decided Jane and John Doe were not suitable candidates for the program because of their close ties to extended family in the “threat area” and because of Jane Doe’s ongoing custody dispute with the father of her two children.

So in March 2018, they reached an “alternative arrangement” wherein RCMP gave the couple money to relocate to a new community.

“The plaintiff pleads that from and after her earliest contacts with members of the RCMP she was consistently reassured that her identity would never become known and there was no risk in her co-operating,” says the lawsuit, filed Oct. 4 in Ottawa.