Police and firemen search the marshland on Quebec’s side of Akwesasne territory March 31.CHRISTINNE MUSCHI/Reuters
A woman who heard people screaming before eight migrants, including two children, were found dead last week after trying to cross into the United States from Canada is questioning whether police could have done more to help avoid the tragedy.
Danielle Oakes, who lives next to the St. Lawrence River on Quebec’s side of Akwesasne territory, which also straddles Ontario and New York State, said she heard the shouting on Wednesday night and went outside with her son and a lantern, but that she didn’t see anything in the dark amid bad weather.
“I called the police and said: ‘I need help, there are people screaming for help on the water,’” she said in an interview Sunday.
When officers arrived, they looked at the water using flashlights and then left after a few minutes, she said.
Police have identified two of the victims: a man named Florin Iordache and a woman named Cristina (Monalisa) Zenaida Iordache, both 28 years old. Mr. Iordache was carrying Canadian passports for two children – a one-year-old and a two-year-old – who were also found dead.
A Federal Court online docket shows that a person by the name of Florin Iordache and a person named Monalisa Budi were applying for a judicial review of a pre-removal risk assessment – a process where someone facing removal can argue why their lives would be in danger if removed from Canada.
On March 10, the couple applied to challenge a decision by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada issued at the Humanitarian Migration Office in Vancouver, which only processes humanitarian and compassionate applications. The Globe and Mail could not confirm on Sunday whether the two individuals who applied for judicial review were the same as those who died in the St. Lawrence River last week.
Police have not confirmed the identities of the other four victims, but said they were Indian nationals. An Indian news outlet reported Sunday that the victims were a family of four from the state of Gujarat. The Economic Times cited a local resident as saying his 50-year-old brother Praveeni Chaudhary, his 45-year-old sister-in-law Diksha, 45, and their two children – son Meet, 20, and daughter Vidhi, 24 – had drowned while trying to cross the U.S. border. He told the news outlet that the family had travelled to Canada two months ago on visitors’ visas.
Meanwhile, Akwesasne police continued to search for 30-year-old Casey Oakes, a man from the community who was last seen boarding a vessel on Wednesday night. Mr. Oakes was described as a human smuggler by a friend and a relative, and police said a vessel matching the one he boarded was found near some of the migrants’ bodies. The police have not yet established a clear connection between Mr. Oakes and the migrants.
On Saturday, police said they had located clothing articles belonging to Mr. Oakes, and asked anyone who knows his whereabouts to contact them at 613-575-2000.
Police have asked anyone who knows the whereabouts of Casey Oakes, seen here in a handout photo, to contact them at 613-575-2000.Supplied
Ms. Oakes, unrelated to Mr. Oakes, was not the only one who heard screams for help on Wednesday night. Akwesasne Mohawk Police Chief Shawn Dulude acknowledged at a news conference Friday that the service received two calls about shouting near the river.
But these “were not calls of distress of people screaming for help,” he said. “It could have been inebriated kids outside … it was nothing out of the norm.”
Mr. Dulude said officers patrolled the shoreline using night vision equipment and “were not able to see any human heat or any movement on the water.” He was not able to say how long the officers patrolled on that night.
Ms. Oakes was not satisfied with Mr. Dulude’s explanation and said police could have done more.
“All I know when I called the police to report screaming for help coming from the river it was no joke,” she posted on Facebook. “Why ... would I call if I heard kids playing, as goes for the two other women from our community who also called when they heard the screams for help! Why didn’t they call the fire dept search and rescue??”
The day after she placed the call to police, Ms. Oakes learned that bodies had been found in the water.
“I was hurt,” she said. “I was crushed when I learned there were children, innocent babies.”
Mr. Dulude said that since January, police have made 48 separate interceptions involving 80 people trying to enter the United States without authorization.
“It’s really hard because we understand. They’re immigrants who just want a better life and to have something so tragic happen, it’s not fair,” said Valene Gray, the owner of the Three Feathers Internet Cafe in New York.
Ms. Gray has been providing meals to first responders since the search for Mr. Oakes and the migrants began on Thursday. Her husband, a volunteer firefighter, is participating in the search.
She said she was particularly saddened to learn of the death of two children, being herself the mother of six: “You wish they didn’t have to do that.”
With reports from James Keller and Tu Thanh Ha.