Man found dead near Roxham Road | A crossing in the middle of a storm

Penniless, out of work and bogged down in paperwork, Fritznel Richard couldn’t take it anymore. Last December 23, in the middle of a storm, the man of Haitian origin tried to cross the few kilometers of forest on the Canada-US border, not far from Roxham road, to join his wife who remained in the south: a decision that was fatal. His frozen body was found two weeks later last Wednesday.

Thursday, the Sûreté du Québec confirmed that it was indeed the man who went missing in the area of ​​Montée Glass on December 27.

The Press managed to join his widow, in Florida, an interview made possible thanks to the simultaneous translation, by a cousin, from Creole to French.

Guenda Filius has confirmed that her husband, Fritznel Richard, 44, attempted to cross the border into the United States on December 23. Montérégie, like the rest of Quebec, was then hit by a winter storm of rare magnitude. “If he went through the forest, it was so as not to attract the attention of the police,” she said.

At around 7:45 p.m., as she asked her husband lost in the woods to call the police, she lost the line. It was the last time she heard his voice. Without news after several days, she finally contacted the Sûreté du Québec, which launched a search operation, in vain.

On Wednesday, an American helicopter patrolling not far from the border spotted the body of Friztnel Richard, which was later recovered by the SQ.

The police force specified that the corpse bore no apparent marks of violence and that hypothermia appeared to be the probable cause of death. “A coroner’s inquest should be carried out in order to find the specific cause or causes as well as the circumstances of the death,” it added.

An untenable financial situation

It is in this dramatic way that Fritznel Richard’s short stay in Quebec ended.

Entering the country via Roxham Road in December 2021 with his wife, he had been waiting for more than a year now for the documents that would have allowed him to work. After some time, Guenda Filius finally decided to return to the United States, also through irregular channels.

Since then, Fritznel Richard has lived alone in an apartment not far from the Côte-Vertu metro station, in the borough of Saint-Laurent, in a financially untenable situation, according to his wife. Guenda Filius says she is worried about the future, she who will have to raise the couple’s two children alone, an 11-year-old boy who remained in Haiti and a 19-month-old baby by her side in Florida.

In fact, the man was probably receiving last resort assistance. However, this is insufficient in the context of the housing shortage in Montreal, explains the spokesperson and coordinator of the Action Committee for People Without Status (CAPSS), Frantz André.

Barriers

Since the reopening of Roxham Road, closed due to the pandemic, in November 2021, tens of thousands of people find themselves in the same position, explains the worker who helps people without status in their procedures.

What’s more, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, which handles asylum claims like Fritznel Richard’s, requires certain documents to be filed digitally, another barrier for many migrants. irregulars deprived of means, believes Frantz André.

“Because of the delays in obtaining their work permit, some are trying to return to the United States, where they sometimes have family to help them. Also, working in the black is easier in the United States than in Canada,” he points out, insisting that “more and more” people are trying to do the opposite.

However, under the Safe Third Country Agreement, people who have already applied for asylum in Canada, which is automatically done when crossing Roxham Road, can no longer do so in the United States. . This is why when they try to return to Uncle Sam, they do so by an irregular route, crossing the woods, for example, explains Frantz André.

Reaction from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada

While assuring that “our thoughts are with the family” of Fritznel Richard, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) reacted Friday by saying that they could not comment on a specific case. “Also, we cannot speculate on why people decide to cross the border between ports of entry,” said ministry spokesman Jeffrey MacDonald.

The latter also recalls that IRCC recently adopted a new approach to speed up the processing of work permits granted to asylum seekers.

“Under this policy, applicants can receive a work permit within one to three months, depending on the timeframe in which they submit information for their asylum application, undergo a medical examination and receive a decision. of admissibility for their request”, explains Jeffrey MacDonald.

It should also be noted that not all applicants will necessarily see their application accepted, especially if they have a criminal history.

Dangerous crossings

Such crossings by an irregular route are not without risk, as demonstrated by cases recently documented by the American authorities not far from the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle sector.

In a press release dated December 9, the US Border Patrol, the American border surveillance agency, reports two situations where migrants trying to cross the border in the direction of the United States nearly died.

First, on December 2, a family of five of Mexican descent was spotted in a wooded area not far from Churubusco, New York, a few miles from the border with Canada. Some of them had lost their shoes and were therefore walking barefoot in near-freezing temperatures.

Then, the next day, US Border Patrol officers rescued a man of Haitian descent, this time in North Troy, Vermont, when he was unconscious and hypothermic. In both cases, the agency notes, the individuals were disoriented due to temperature-related trauma while irregularly crossing the border into the United States.