TORONTO - Canada can and may accept 'a number of valuable informants from Pakistan who helped the US locate Osama bin Laden, police and immigration officials say. The relocation of high-level Pakistani informants to other countries is part of an international witness protection programme between NATO-member countries, according to the Canadian justice department. I wouldnt be surprised if there are some files like this in the post-Osama bin Laden era, immigration specialist Richard Kurland said Monday. The programme offers sanctuary for people who helped the US, Britain and Canada, and are in danger. Kurland said the informants, who can include military personnel, workers or the elite, are brought to safety and resettled in other countries. They and their families would be given a fee, identities and a place to live in Canada. These people are friends of the West who now need our protection, Kurland said. This would be standard operating procedure in the post-Osama era. Kurland said dozens of informants were quietly accepted by Canada in the 1940s and '50s after the end of the Second World War and the defeat of Adolf Hitler. This process has been going on for years and has never stopped, he said. The cycle continues and the practice is ongoing. US officials have said they were helped by a number of Pakistani nationals in their hunt for bin Laden. A department of justice website said government officials may enter into a reciprocal agreement with a foreign government to admit foreign nationals into the witness protection program. The solicitor general of Canada may make a similar arrangement with an international court or tribunal, the site states. The solicitor general must consent to the individuals admittance into the programme.