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 the city of Montreal and the provincial government.
In a joint statement released on Friday, the three parties announced the agreement.
The statement expressed the hope that this settlement would allow Mr. Paquin to move forward from this challenging period of his life without the need for a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall.
Back in 1983, Paquin was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder relating to the deaths of Ronald Bourgouin and Sylvie Revah, a couple who were killed in the Laurentians in 1978.
After spending 18 years in prison, Paquin was granted full parole in 2001 under strict conditions that lasted for the following 23 years.
In 2024, the federal justice minister ordered a retrial, citing new information indicating a likely “miscarriage of justice.” Paquin, now 83, was acquitted on November 6, 2024.
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Paquin credited his lawyers from Projet Innocence Québec for his acquittal, emphasizing that without their work, it would not have been possible.
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 raised doubts about his credibility.
‘The Tale of a Lost Life’
Represented by attorneys 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 their agents, including Montreal police, the Sûreté du Québec, and the Quebec Crown prosecutor’s office, had failed in their duties.
The lawsuit claimed that as early as 1983, police and the prosecution were aware that the informant’s testimony was false and that any physical evidence linking Paquin to the crime had been falsified or tampered with.
In the lawsuit, Paquin’s lawyers argued that this case was not just a miscarriage of justice but a narrative of a life stolen, of a sentence that extended beyond prison walls, resulting in the confiscation of an entire existence.
The lawyers also highlighted Paquin’s record for enduring the