If you’ve bought maple syrup at a major grocery store in the last few years, you might want to check the label.
Quebec produces roughly 70% of the world’s maple syrup, but according to a class action lawsuit working its way through the courts, not everything sold under that label was actually the real thing. And you could be owed money if you bought it.
The case traces back to April 2026, when Radio-Canada’s Enquête investigated a Montérégie maple syrup operation run by producer Steve Bourdeau, who did business under names like Érablière Steve Bourdeau, Le sirop Angela and L’Érabeille. Lab testing cited in the lawsuit found the syrup contained less than 50% actual maple syrup, with the rest made up of cane sugar or syrup sourced from outside Quebec, despite the cans being labelled “pur” and “du Québec.”
In hidden-camera footage captured by Enquête, Bourdeau boasted about selling hundreds of thousands of cans a year to grocery stores across Quebec and Ontario, some for as little as $4.99.
Major grocery chains are named in the lawsuit
An amended version of the lawsuit, filed August 3, 2026, added four grocery chains as defendants alongside Bourdeau’s numbered company, 9227-8712 Québec Inc.: Metro, Sobeys Group, Loblaw Companies and Groupe Épicia, which operates the Val-Mont grocery stores where lead plaintiff Maude Fraser-Jodoin bought her syrup.
Metro’s banners include Metro, Metro Plus, Super C, Food Basics, Adonis, Marché Richelieu and Marché Ami. Sobeys operates under IGA, IGA Extra, Rachelle Béry, Marchés Tradition, FreshCo, Marchés Bonichoix, Foodland and Farm Boy. Loblaw’s chains include Maxi, No Frills, Loblaws, Provigo, Real Canadian Superstore, T&T and Pharmaprix.
The lawsuit argues these retailers should have caught the problem well before Enquête did. It points to a 2016 MAPAQ inspection that flagged an Adonis location in Brossard, operated under Metro, for selling Bourdeau’s syrup after a complaint said it tasted like molasses, along with a separate 2025 MAPAQ report flagging similar issues at the Val-Mont location on Mont-Royal.
According to Radio-Canada, Metro, Sobeys, Épicia and Bourdeau’s company have all said they intend to contest the class action. Loblaw hasn’t yet indicated where it stands.
What you could be owed
According to Slater Vecchio, the law firm behind the suit, the proposed class covers anyone in Canada who bought a can of Bourdeau’s maple syrup since October 5, 2010. The lawsuit estimates that the affected group of customers could run into the hundreds of thousands, or possibly millions, of people.
If the class action is authorized, it’s asking for a full refund of the purchase price, or a reduced price as an alternative, plus compensatory damages and at least $100 per class member in punitive damages.
Several grocery chains already offered refunds for Bourdeau’s syrup in the weeks after the Enquête story aired, but the lawsuit argues that’s not enough on its own, since a class action would also allow for punitive damages and interest that a simple refund program wouldn’t cover.
What happens next
The case still needs to be authorized by the Quebec Superior Court before it can officially move forward as a class action, and there’s no claims process yet. With Metro, Sobeys, Épicia and Bourdeau’s company already signalling they plan to fight it, that authorization process could take a while.
Anyone who bought maple syrup from Bourdeau’s operation, whether at one of the named grocery chains or elsewhere, can leave their information at slatervecchio.com to stay updated as the case develops.
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