Class Action Against Attorney General of Québec for Violations of Detainees’ Rights
Update: May 6, 2025 – Court approves $25 Million Settlement Benefitting Detainees Who Were Denied Right to Bail Review During Pre-Trial Detention
Kugler Kandestin is pleased to announce that the Superior Court of Québec rendered a judgment approving the settlement of the class action which alleges the systemic violation of the right of detainees to have their pretrial detention reviewed under Article 525 of the Criminal Code. The settlement is for the benefit of persons who were arrested and detained in Québec while awaiting trial between March 29th, 2016, and June 21st, 2019, for a continuous period of more than 90 days (for an indictable charge) or 30 days (for a summary conviction charge), without the jailer asking a judge to hold a hearing to examine the necessity of continued pretrial detention
The settlement requires the Attorney General of Québec to pay an amount of $25 million, which will allow class members to receive compensation in an amount up to $3,049.
The distribution of compensation is administered by Proactio, which has been appointed by the Court for this purpose and will determine member eligibility independently by accessing Court documents. Class members do not need to submit a claim form or file any proof to benefit from the settlement. However, members are strongly encouraged to contact the administrator to provide their current address. This will allow the administrator to send the indemnity to the correct address.
You can find out more by contacting Proactio at:
Proactio
Class Action – Pretrial detention
600 de la Gauchetière West, Suite 2000
Montréal, Québec H3B 4L8
Website: https://proactio.ca/pretrial_detention
Email: detentionproces@proactio.ca
Telephone (toll-free): 1 (844) 967-3703
The Notice to class members of the approval judgment will be published in the newspapers on May 10, 2025.
The lawyers who handled this case on behalf of the class members are:
| Robert Kugler Alexandre Brosseau-Wery Éva Richard Kugler Kandestin LLP 1, Place Ville Marie, Suite 1170 Montréal, Québec H3B 2A7 | Victor Chauvelot Louis-Nicholas Coupal Coupal Chauvelot S.A. 501-4, Notre-Dame Street East Montréal, Québec H2Y 1B8 |
You may contact the lawyers who handled this class action for free by telephone at 514-903-3390 or 514-878-2861 or by email at victor@coupalchauvelot.com or info@kklex.com.
We are pleased to announce that a settlement agreement has been reached with the Attorney General of Québec to settle this class action which alleges the systemic violation of the right of detained persons to have their pre-trial detention controlled by a judge under Article 525 of the Criminal Code.
The settlement agreement provides for the payment of a lump sum of $25 million by the Attorney General of Québec, which will allow each eligible class member to receive compensation up to $3,049. In addition, the settlement agreement provides that a Court-appointed administrator will identify eligible class members.
For a class action settlement to be valid, it must be approved by the Court. The hearing to approve the settlement will take place on December 9, 2024, at 9:30 a.m. in room 16.06 of the Montreal Courthouse before the Superior Court of Québec during which we will present an application for approval of the settlement agreement and class counsel’s fees for the work done on this file over the past five years.
Please consult the Notice to Members for more information.
Please note that class members are not required to attend the hearing to benefit from the settlement.
If the Court approves the settlement, we will provide additional information regarding next steps.
Kugler Kandestin is collaborating on this class action with Coupal Chauvelot.
If you, or someone you know, were detained between March 29, 2016, and June 21, 2019, for a continuous period of more than 90 days (for an indictable charge) or more than 30 days (for a summary conviction charge), without the jailer asking a judge to hold a hearing to examine the necessity of continued pre-trial detention, we invite you to contact one of the lawyers working on this file:
We are very pleased to announce that the Superior Court of Québec rendered a judgment authorizing this class action against the Attorney General of Québec for the systematic violation of the right of detainees in Québec to have their detention reviewed by a judge in accordance with the Criminal Code.
Kugler Kandestin is collaborating on this class action with Coupal Chauvelot.
This case concerns the rights of detainees to have their detention reviewed by a judge free of charge and at the request of the jailer. All detainees, who have not yet been tried, are entitled to the presumption of innocence and to reasonable bail. These rights mean that, under the Criminal Code of Canada, the person holding an accused in pre-trial detention must apply to a judge, within 90 days of the initial order to detain, to see if the accused can be released. Until very recently in Québec, these applications were never made, and accused were therefore held in detention in violation of the Criminal Code and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The absence of these review applications creates a troubling incentive for an accused to plead guilty, even if he or she is innocent, as the Supreme Court of Canada observed in R. v. Myers, 2019 SCC 18. This class action seeks to compensate detainees whose constitutional rights have been violated in the manner described above. The class action claims a minimum of $6,000 of damages for each class member.
You can access further details about this class action by consulting the Notice to members approved by the Court.
If you or someone you know has been held in pre-trial detention and the jailer has not applied to a judge to assess the possibility of release, then we encourage you to contact one of the attorneys working on this case.
Your communications with us are free and will be kept strictly confidential.
| Robert Kugler 514-360-8882 rkugler@kklex.com | Alexandre Brosseau-Wery 514-360-8865 awery@kklex.com | |
| Victor Chauvelot 514-903-3390 victor@coupalchauvelot.com | Louis-Nicholas Coupal 514-903-3390 lnc@coupalchauvelot.com |
We will continue to update this page as the case progresses.