Marcel Breton has lost a 16-year legal bid to reclaim more than C$1.2 million found hidden on his Thunder Bay property in 2009. Though he was acquitted after a retrial that found the original search unlawful, an Ontario appeals court upheld a decision to forfeit most of the money to the government. The court cited the cash's burial, the prevalence of C$20 bills and Breton's lack of reported income from 2001–2008. Breton was allowed to keep C$15,000 recovered from vents.
After 16-Year Battle, Man Fails to Reclaim Buried C$1.2M Found on His Property
Marcel Breton has lost a 16-year legal bid to reclaim more than C$1.2 million found hidden on his Thunder Bay property in 2009. Though he was acquitted after a retrial that found the original search unlawful, an Ontario appeals court upheld a decision to forfeit most of the money to the government. The court cited the cash's burial, the prevalence of C$20 bills and Breton's lack of reported income from 2001–2008. Breton was allowed to keep C$15,000 recovered from vents.
01:10 PM, 11/21/2025Society
Marcel Breton has exhausted his 16-year legal fight to recover more than C$1.2 million that police discovered stashed around his rural Thunder Bay property during a 2009 search.
On December 1, 2009, officers attended Breton’s home looking for an alleged illegal handgun. During that visit they found roughly C$15,000 hidden in the living-room floor heating ducts, about C$32,000 concealed in and around the garage, and more than C$1.2 million stored in a rubber tub buried under the garage. At 2009 exchange rates the total haul was about US$1.19 million. Investigators also seized drugs including cocaine, marijuana and ecstasy.
Breton was initially convicted on several charges, including possession of the proceeds of crime, but was later acquitted at a retrial after successfully arguing the search was unlawful. That acquittal, however, did not resolve what should happen to the seized cash.
An Ontario appeals court this week upheld a 2023 decision ordering most of the money forfeited to the government. The trial judge, Justice Bruce Fitzpatrick, described it as "unusual for an average person to have such a large amount of money buried in tubs underneath their property," and noted that the most common denomination in the bundles was the C$20 bill, a denomination often associated with drug transactions. Court records also show Breton reported no income to the Canada Revenue Agency from 2001 through 2008. The judge rejected Breton's explanations that the funds came from lottery or casino winnings or from his vehicle repair business.
Sanaa Ahmed, assistant professor of law at the University of Calgary, said the case highlights the tension between procedural safeguards and asset recovery: courts often find legal pathways to confiscate money even after criminal acquittal.
Michelle Gallant, professor of law at the University of Manitoba, emphasized the burden on Breton to prove a lawful source for large sums of cash: "Cash is the currency of illegal drugs," she said, asking why someone would bury dollars in a barrel rather than deposit them to earn interest.
The appeals court allowed one concession: Breton may keep the C$15,000 found in the vents of the house, since the judge could not conclusively tie that portion of the cash to criminal activity. That amount is roughly equivalent to US$10,600 in current terms. The ruling underscores ongoing debates about civil forfeiture, property rights and how courts balance evidence of suspicious circumstances against procedural protections for defendants.