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. The agreement was announced by the three parties in a joint statement on Friday, aiming to avoid a lengthy trial scheduled for this fall and allow Paquin to move 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 killed in the Laurentians. He served 18 years in prison before being released on full parole in 2001 under strict conditions that lasted for the following 23 years. In 2024, a retrial was ordered by the federal justice minister due to new information suggesting a possible 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, which included members of Projet Innocence Québec. The case against him heavily relied on the testimony of Bernard Provençal, a prominent 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 Quebec Superior Court in May 2025 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 linking Paquin to the crime had been manipulated.
Described as a “story of a stolen life,” the lawsuit argued that Paquin’s unjustly prolonged sentence went beyond the confines of prison walls. The legal action sought damages exceeding $89 million, though the specific amount remains confidential due to the settlement agreement. As the lawsuit was resolved outside of court, the claims were not subject to judicial scrutiny, and the parties involved declined further comments as per the confidentiality agreement.