A man convicted of double murder has not received a new trial ordered by the justice minister after 45 years.
Convicted of the 1978 murders of Ronald Bourquin and Sylvie Reva, Claude Paquin took more than four decades to get another chance.
“I'm finally going to be a completely free man,” Paquin told us, adding that he still had to comply with strict release conditions.
At the time, star informant Bernard Provençal testified against Buckin and said the latter ordered the couple's murder. Their bones were found by hunters at Saint-Columbine in Laurentians a few months after their disappearance.
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Five years later, in 1983, Baguin was convicted of two counts of premeditated murder.
Crime free plan
Always maintaining his innocence, he spent 18 years behind bars before being released on parole. In 2020, he approached the Minister of Justice to review his convictions. His story was told on the show Innocence Quebec ProjectA show hosted by Marie-Claude Barrett that showcased the work of lawyers and students trying to shed light on cases of judicial errors.
A story that continues for 45 years*
- June 1978: Ronald Bourgoin and his wife Sylvie Reva are assassinated
- October 1978: A hunter discovers their bodies in Saint-Columbian
- June 1983: Claude Paquin is convicted of two premeditated murders
- December 1987: The Quebec Court of Appeal rejects his appeal
- November 1999: He has his parole deadline reduced
- January 2020: He files a request to review his criminal convictions
- April 2024: Union Justice Minister orders retrial
Provençal allegedly lied more than once about several key facts, according to the review request, a copy of which Our Bureau of Investigation obtained, which prompted the Justice Minister to request a review from the 81-year-old man.
“There are reasonable grounds to conclude that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred,” Canada's Justice Minister Arif Virani said in a press release Monday.
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Honorable Virani's conclusion was that “significant new information (…) arises from the discovery that calls into question the fairness of the process.”
Conspiracy with police
Claude Pagu's lawyers, who acted as part of the Quebec Innocence Project, cited several troubling facts in their request for a review.
They say that the informant would have conspired with the Provençal police to frame him, cash in on his version of the facts, and receive benefits from the police that he never disclosed (see excerpts from the request amendment).
The Provençal informer finally declared in an affidavit 13 years later that he had nothing to do with the double murder and Bagun, which was not enough for the Supreme Court of Canada to order a new trial.
“It's been years of work. Mr. Paquin can now walk with his head held high,” said his attorney, Ms.e Julie Harinen.
The case should be sent back to the Quebec courts, where further action will be decided given that many witnesses and key figures are now dead.
Excerpts from Request for Review
“(…) the testimony of the informant was fabricated”
In an affidavit the Provençal informer mentions “certain advantages which he received in exchange for his declarations.”
“Police turn a blind eye to major crimes committed by Provençal informers”
“The Provençal informer even lived in a trailer owned by a police officer (…)”
“He reveals that he deliberately perjured himself in his testimony (…) and the police officers asked him to remain silent from the court about any benefit he may have received”
Source: Request for review sent to Canada's Minister of Justice by Projet Innocence Québec
* Sources: Department of Justice and Archives Canada Montreal Journal
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