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The RCMP is using Canada's witness protection law to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit in the case of a man who murdered someone under his new government-issued identity, the Commons public safety committee heard Tuesday.

The Mounties failed to screen the man, said Tom Bulmer, a British Columbia defence lawyer. “Anyone who did any investigation into this rogue police agent would have known that he was a danger to the public,” Mr. Bullmer said, calling the crime both “preventable” and “predictable.”

The accusation of negligence against the Mounties was just part of two hours of testimony yesterday, which featured Mr. Bulmer and, via a video conference link from Toronto, Barry Swadron, a lawyer who has represented numerous protected witnesses with complaints about the program.

Both men called on the committee to overhaul the program and wrest control away from the Mounties and give it back to lawmakers.

The committee began reviewing the program in April, after an investigation into a paid RCMP agent, codenamed E8060, by The Globe and Mail and Ottawa Citizen. The newspapers found that the informant, an unemployed Victoria man named Richard Young, was allowed to remain in witness protection even though he concocted evidence – evidence that a B.C. judge later called a “cruel charade.”

Despite this, he was relocated and issued a new identity, only to kill someone under his new name. However, the Witness Protection Program Act makes it a criminal offence to knowingly disclose, directly or indirectly, anything about who Mr. Young became or who he killed.

The RCMP has said it's illegal for anyone to tell the committee, or even Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, the full story. The victim's family members also cannot be told that their loved one was killed by an agent of the state.

“I find it disgusting that the RCMP could hide under a veil of legislation,” said Mr. Swadron, who, along with Mr. Bulmer, called for a civilian board of lawyers, judges and others to oversee the program.

Both lawyers attacked the Mounties' interpretation of the law, which only allows the RCMP commissioner to disclose the name of a protected witness when it's in the public interest, or if the witness has acted in a manner that discloses his or her new identity.

“The police and the RCMP aren't running this country,” Mr. Swadron said.

“I don't think the commissioner should be deciding what's in the public interest –it should be elected members of Parliament ... [The commissioner] won't decide what's in the public interest; [the commissioner] will decide what's in the police's interest.”

Two senior Mounties will appear before the committee tomorrow to discuss an internal review, ordered in March, of Mr. Young's case.

Both lawyers said the committee should demand that the RCMP tell the whole story. Mr. Bulmer carefully tiptoed around the details of Mr. Young's crime, as well as violating the law, by describing it this way: “You can close your eyes and think about the worst crime possible, and if a tear comes to your eye, then you're close – then multiply it.”

Joe Comartin, a New Democratic Party MP who is vice-chair of the public safety committee, said he is eager to see the RCMP's review of the case, which he still hadn't received by last night.

“We know that there was a screw-up there, and if they say all the rules were followed then we'll know it's a whitewash,” Mr. Comartin said.

Roy Cullen, a Liberal MP from the Toronto area, hinted that he might answer the lawyers' calls and demand the truth from the Mounties.

“I think it would be useful to know the specifics of what happened to prevent it from happening again,” he said.