An investigation is underway after a man’s body was found Wednesday afternoon in Montérégie, Que., near the Roxham Road border crossing between the Canada-U.S.
The man was a migrant, a police source confirmed to CTV News, who said his death is being treated as “suspicious” at this stage, adding that the person did not appear to have died of natural causes or self-inflicted injuries.
Roxham Road is an unofficial border crossing often used by asylum seekers heading to Canada via the US
The body was spotted Wednesday around 2:15 p.m. by U.S. border agents patrolling the area by helicopter, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement to CTV on Thursday. Border Patrol responded to the area with assistance from the New York State Police, the RCMP and the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
“It was determined that the body of the deceased falls under the jurisdiction of Canada and the investigation is being led by the Sûreté du Québec,” the statement said.
According to Quebec provincial police, the body was found deep in a wooded area in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacol and had to be taken out by helicopter.
No one was around when the man was discovered.
The man’s migrant status has not been officially confirmed by the SQ.
“Everything is still open for us,” SQ spokesman Louis-Philippe Ruel said early Thursday afternoon.
“We will follow up on every lead we have. But so far the identification number has not been established, it’s really too early to say what the person was doing there, whether he was trying to enter or exit Canada.”
Quebec’s immigration ministry said it was aware of the incident and declined to comment further, citing the ongoing investigation.
This death comes almost a year after the bodies of four migrants were found near the Canada-US border in Emerson, Manitoba.
A “DANGEROUS” ROAD TO CANADA
Under the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA), refugee claimants who enter Canada from the US at official border crossings are automatically turned back. However, when they enter Canada at unofficial border crossings, such as Roxham Road, and apply for refugee status there, they are usually allowed to stay in the country until their case is heard.
In the case of Roxham Road, many migrants can arrive by car or taxi and walk a few meters across the US-Canada border.
The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to rule on whether the STCA violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the coming months.
Montreal immigration lawyer Chantal Janiciello said the discovery of a man’s body near the border is another example of how the STCA puts migrants in dangerous situations.
“The first reaction is sadness, shock, and at the same time the idea that this has happened so many times before, it’s just a feeling that the situation could have been avoided,” she told CTV.
Migrants who are turned back at official border crossings are returned to the United States, not to the countries they came from. Advocates say people are often detained and mistreated or face deportation.
To avoid this, refugee applicants are forced to walk through bush and wooded areas that can put their lives at risk.
“The only thing we would like to see is for people to be allowed to turn up at the entry point and be able to make a claim there. The fact that people are going to move and cross borders and put themselves in difficult situations to seek safety, that’s not going to change,” Gianniciello said.
“Allowing people to process their claim ‘safely’ would be the best option,” she said, adding that applicants at official entry points could be better tracked.
CROSSING THE BORDER BOOKED FOR QUEBEC PREMIERE
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has pressed Ottawa to shut down unofficial crossings, saying the province does not have the resources to provide for asylum seekers awaiting the outcome of their claims.
Between January and November 2022, RCMP officers apprehended 34,478 asylum seekers crossing the border through an unofficial Quebec entry point.
This compares to 4,095 detections for the whole of 2021 and 3,189 in 2020, when Roxham Road was mostly closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The border crossing reopened in November 2021.
In December, Marie-France Lalonde, secretary to the federal immigration minister, indicated that the Trudeau government was negotiating a possible modernization of the Safe Third Country Agreement.
The agreement requires potential refugees to claim asylum in the first country they land in, be it Canada or the US
With files from Olivia O’Malley of CTV News Montreal and The Canadian Press.
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