Claude Paquin, a man from Quebec who was wrongly convicted of a double murder and later acquitted after 41 years, has reached a substantial settlement with Montreal and the provincial government.
In a joint statement released on Friday, the City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec announced the settlement. They expressed their hope that this agreement, which avoids a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall, will assist Mr. Paquin in moving forward 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.
Following 18 years in prison, Paquin was granted full parole in 2001 under strict release conditions, which remained in effect for the next 23 years.
In 2024, the federal justice minister ordered a retrial after determining that new information in the case suggested a “miscarriage of justice likely occurred.”
Paquin, who is now 83 years old, was acquitted on November 6, 2024.
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Paquin credited his legal team from Projet Innocence Québec for his acquittal, stating it would not have been possible without their efforts.
The case against Paquin heavily relied on the testimony of Bernard Provençal, a prominent police informant. However, over time, Projet Innocence Québec uncovered evidence casting doubt on his credibility.
‘The Tale of a Lost Life’
Represented by lawyers from Woods LLP, 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 agents, including Montreal police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office.
The lawsuit alleges that both the police and the prosecution 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 either falsified or tampered with.
In the lawsuit, Paquin’s lawyers argued, “This case is not just a miscarriage of justice; it is a narrative of a life stolen, of a sentence that extended far beyond the walls of the prison. A life taken away.”
His legal