The survivor of Quebec’s election-night shooting says he feels abandoned as the fifth anniversary of the event approaches.

Dave Courage was one of several technicians at the back of the Metropolis club on the night Pauline Marois was elected leader of a minority Parti Quebecois government in September 2012.

Richard Bain entered the club and fired one bullet, which went through stagehand Denis Blanchette, killing him. The same bullet went through Courage's hips, shattering his bones and leaving him in permanent pain.

“I have chronic pain that will last my whole life. My hips were hurt, my coccyx, my spine, muscular damage – the list is very long. But the worst damage is the damage that we can’t see, it’s the psychological help that I really need. Personally, every sound scares me. I hear a siren and I wonder, ‘Who just got shot. Is everyone okay?’” he said.

Courage has written a book about his ordeal, set to be released next week.

The book tells Courage’s ordeal and the fall-out from the shooting from his perspective.

Courage said he felt abandoned by the government after the event, saying he had to fight to receive workers’ compensation, which has since ended, despite him still suffering the effects.

Still unable to work, Courage is now receiving welfare, making it difficult to support his three children.

Other victims are in the early stages of launching a lawsuit against police, arguing that officers failed to do their job to protect people inside, given that the venue was surrounded by the SQ.

Many of the other victims claim they suffered psychologically from the attack, said Virginie Dufour-Lemire, the attorney representing the group. 

They are asking for $80,000 each, though the case hasn’t reached the courts yet.

"We find it unacceptable that an armed and masked man could so easily approach a major venue, hosting a political event, hosting hundreds of people was taking place," said Dufour-Lemire. "It's unacceptable there was no police on site."

Richard Henry Bain was convicted of second-degree murder in 2016 and will spend at least 20 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.