Claude Paquin, a man from Quebec who was wrongly convicted of a double murder and later acquitted after 41 years, has come to a multimillion-dollar settlement with Montreal and the provincial government. The agreement was jointly announced by the three parties on Friday to avoid a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall. The City of Montreal and the Attorney General of Quebec expressed hopes that this settlement would assist Mr. Paquin in moving forward from this challenging period in his life.
Initially found guilty in 1983 of two counts of first-degree murder linked to the deaths of Ronald Bourgouin and Sylvie Revah in 1978 in the Laurentians, Paquin spent 18 years in prison 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. Paquin, now 83 years old, was acquitted on November 6, 2024.
Paquin credited his acquittal to the diligent work of his legal team from Projet Innocence Québec. The case against him heavily relied on the testimony of Bernard Provençal, a well-known police informant. However, over time, evidence discovered by Projet Innocence Québec cast doubt on his credibility.
Represented by lawyers at Woods LLP, Paquin filed a multimillion-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 police and the prosecution were aware as early as 1983 that the informant’s testimony was false and that any physical evidence connecting Paquin to the crime had been manipulated or fabricated.
The lawsuit characterized the case as more than just a miscarriage of justice, describing it as “the story of a stolen life.” Paquin’s legal team argued that his sentence extended beyond the prison walls, leading to a life unjustly taken away. The lawsuit sought over $89 million in damages, although the specific settlement amount remains confidential due to a non-disclosure clause.
As the lawsuit was resolved out of court, the claims were not subject to formal scrutiny, and the involved parties stated that they would refrain from making further comments on the matter.