Claude Paquin, a man from Quebec who was wrongly found guilty of a double murder and later acquitted after 41 years, has reached a substantial settlement with Montreal and the provincial government. The agreement was announced jointly by the three parties on Friday, aiming to provide closure for Mr. Paquin without the need for a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall.
In 1983, Paquin was convicted of two first-degree murder charges related to the deaths of Ronald Bourgouin and Sylvie Revah in 1978 in the Laurentians. Despite spending 18 years in prison and being on strict parole until 2024, new evidence led the federal justice minister to order a retrial, resulting in Paquin’s acquittal on November 6, 2024.
The case against Paquin heavily relied on the testimony of Bernard Provençal, a police informant, whose credibility was later questioned by Projet Innocence Québec. Represented by lawyers from Woods LLP, Paquin filed a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit in May 2025, alleging that the City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec, along with their agents, were responsible for failings that resulted in his wrongful conviction.
Paquin’s lawsuit claimed that police and prosecutors were aware as early as 1983 that the informant’s testimony was false and that any physical evidence linking him to the crime had been tampered with. His lawyers described the case as not just a miscarriage of justice but as a “stolen life” that had been unjustly prolonged even after his release.
The lawsuit sought damages of over $89 million, but the specific settlement amount remains confidential due to the agreement’s terms. As the lawsuit was resolved out of court, the claims were not litigated, and all parties involved have agreed not to provide further comments on the matter.
