Claude Paquin, a man from Quebec who was wrongly convicted of a double murder and later acquitted after 41 years, has reached a multi-million dollar agreement with Montreal and the provincial government.
The settlement was announced by all three parties in a joint statement released on Friday. They expressed hope that the agreement, which avoids a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall, will assist Mr. Paquin in moving on from this challenging period in his life.
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 in prison before being granted full parole in 2001 under strict conditions, which continued for the next 23 years.
In 2024, the federal justice minister ordered a retrial due to new case information indicating a probable “miscarriage of justice.” Paquin, now 83, was acquitted on November 6, 2024.
Paquin credited his legal team from Projet Innocence Québec for his acquittal, highlighting the pivotal role they played in his case. The case against Paquin heavily relied on the testimony of Bernard Provençal, a prominent police informant. However, evidence uncovered by Projet Innocence Québec over time cast doubt on his credibility.
Represented by lawyers from Woods LLP, Paquin filed a multi-million dollar civil lawsuit in May 2025 in Quebec Superior Court against the City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec. The lawsuit alleged that authorities, including Montreal police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office, were aware as early as 1983 that the informant’s testimony was false and that any physical evidence linking Paquin to the crime had been manipulated.
The lawsuit described the case not only as a miscarriage of justice but as the narrative of a life taken away, of a sentence that extended beyond prison walls, portraying an existence stolen from him.
Although Paquin sought damages exceeding $89 million in the lawsuit, the exact amount remains undisclosed due to a confidentiality clause in the settlement agreement. As the lawsuit was resolved outside of court, the claims were not litigated, and the involved parties stated they would refrain from making additional comments.