Claude Paquin, a man from Quebec who was wrongly convicted of a double murder and later acquitted after 41 years, has agreed to a substantial settlement with Montreal and the provincial government. The agreement was announced jointly by the three parties on Friday, aiming to allow Mr. Paquin to move on from this challenging period in his life without a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall.
In 1983, Paquin was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder related to the deaths of Ronald Bourgouin and Sylvie Revah, a couple murdered in the Laurentians in 1978. He spent 18 years behind bars before being released on full parole in 2001 under strict conditions that lasted for the next 23 years. In 2024, the federal justice minister ordered a retrial due to new evidence suggesting a potential miscarriage of justice. Subsequently, Paquin, now 83, was acquitted on November 6, 2024.
Throughout the legal journey, Paquin credited his legal team from Projet Innocence Québec for the successful outcome of his case. The case against him heavily relied on the testimony of Bernard Provençal, a prominent police informant, but over time, Projet Innocence Québec unearthed evidence casting doubt on his credibility.
Represented by Woods LLP lawyers, Paquin filed a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court in May 2025 against the City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec, alleging failures by their representatives, including Montreal police, Sûreté du Québec, and the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office. The lawsuit claimed that as early as 1983, law enforcement and the prosecution were aware of the falsity of the informant’s testimony and the alleged fabrication or alteration of the only physical evidence linking Paquin to the crime.
Described as more than just a miscarriage of justice, Paquin’s lawyers portrayed the case as a narrative of a life stolen, a sentence that extended beyond prison confinement, labeling it as an existence seized unjustly. The lawsuit highlighted Paquin’s record for enduring the lengthiest unjustified deprivation of liberty documented in Quebec.
While Paquin sought over $89 million in damages as per the lawsuit, the exact settlement amount remains undisclosed due to a confidentiality agreement among the parties. As the lawsuit was resolved outside of court, its claims were not subjected to a legal test, and the involved parties have refrained from further comment.