The eight migrants who perished during a shipwreck near the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve in March 2023 were trying to reach the United States with the help of a network of illegal smugglers operating from Montreal.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) filed charges last week against eight suspects, including two Montrealers and a resident of Kanesatake, a Mohawk settlement near Oka. They are suspected of having played different roles in around a hundred clandestine crossings since July 2022.
One of the accused, Justin Rourke, originally from Saint-Régis, Quebec, was arrested on May 14 on the American side of the border, following a pursuit that ended when he crashed into a tree while driving a a Jeep Cherokee with a fake plate. Akwesasne Mohawk police officers, who chased him, tried in vain to use a studded mat to immobilize him, according to a report from a special agent with the Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Agency (HSI). Rourke ended up losing control of the vehicle on a dirt road, where he was traveling at more than 150 km/h, according to the police report. He then fled into a wooded area, where the police eventually arrested him. They later found a .410 caliber shotgun in the back seat of the vehicle. Rourke has previous convictions in New York State for driving under the influence, possession of marijuana and theft of high-value items.
Thesingarasan Resiah, a 51-year-old Montrealer suspected of being the head of the network, had already been arrested for the first time in Ontario, in 2021, for similar allegations. He subsequently received 15 months in prison for failing to comply with conditions.
Resiah had “established ties with other countries” to ensure that migrants arrived in Canada on a visitor visa, sometimes with a work permit, told The Press Constable Patrick Bouchard, lead RCMP investigator in the case.
“The investigation shows that Resiah operated from Montreal,” adds Constable Bouchard. The network mainly dealt with migrants from India, Sri Lanka and Romania.
From Montreal to the “Allée des Contrebandiers”
According to the RCMP, the suspects demanded $5,000 to $6,000 to take care of the migrants from their arrival at the airport until their passage into American territory, in New York state. The crossing was “often on small open boats” not necessarily adapted to the climatic conditions.
“They made the migrants take risks,” says the investigator. Eight of them, including two young children, died when their boat capsized in March 2023, an event that made headlines. The body of a ninth victim, the pilot of the boat, was found in July 2023 in the St. Lawrence, near Akwesasne.
According to the RCMP, the migrants arrived mainly through Trudeau airport or Toronto airport. They were then housed for a time in hotels, before being moved to the Akwesasne reserve.
A second Montrealer, Joël Portillo, is suspected of having provided transportation between Montreal and Cornwall, transporting two to five people at a time in a minivan.
From there, various accomplices who had good knowledge of the Akwesasne territory, including Kanesatake resident Shawna Étienne, took over, says the police force.
Nicknamed the Smugglers’ Alley (Smugglers Alley), the Mohawk reserve straddles the territory of Quebec, Ontario and New York State. It is crossed by the Saint Lawrence, a waterway used by smugglers to transport goods of all kinds by boat.
“It’s a region conducive to smuggling anything, including clandestine crossings,” underlines investigator Bouchard.
With the collaboration of Vincent Larouche, The Press