The heartbreaking situation highlights deeper border control issues between Canada and the U.S. according to migrant advocate Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change.
"The question we need to ask is, why are people fleeing Canada to go to the United States?" Hussan told CTV New Channel on Saturday. "Why are migrants not able to just live here with justice and dignity and equality?"
The people found in the river were part of two families, one of Romanian descent and the other of Indian origin. Police said Friday they were likely trying to enter the U.S. illegally. The bodies, which haven't been officially identified, were found in Tsi Snaihne (Snye) in Akwesasne, a Mohawk territory that straddles Quebec, Ontario and New York state.
Hussan says people likely flee illegally across the border because they face difficulties accessing permanent residency in Canada, among other things.
"Prime Minister Trudeau in December 2021 at the start of this current mandate, promised permanent resident status for migrant students and workers and undocumented people," Hussan said. "Because he knows that that is the only way to ensure equal rights, 15 months later, we have not seen an inclusive regularization program."
He adds migrants will be less likely to flee if a path to permanent residency is created.
"People are being abused at work, exploited by landlords, separated from their families, denied health care, and a few of them are making this dangerous journey to the U.S. and are dying," he said.
Hussan is fearful the shocking news of migrant deaths will become normalized.
"What I'm scared of is that this will turn from news into current affairs," he said.
Recently, the U.S. and Canada agreed to end a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement which means asylum seekers will be turned away at irregular border crossings like at Roxham Road in Quebec. Federal figures show more than 39,000 people claimed asylum after crossing into Canada by land in 2022, with most coming through Quebec.
Photos released by NASA taken from International Space Station show the immense scale of the wildfires in Nova Scotia, with billowing smoke engulfing the landscape.
At the moment, wildfires are burning across six provinces and one territory in Canada — and they’re still spreading in what’s being called an unprecedented fire season. While firefighters work tirelessly to battle the merciless flames and prevent further destruction, scientists say the wildfires are linked to climate change and that this will be the new normal.
A 38-year-old sergeant in the Canadian Army was fined $3,000 and issued a severe reprimand after he made what a military judge described as 'utterly disgusting' anti-Jewish comments while conducting an infantry training course in 2021.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Convicted murderer Daniel Jolivet, in prison for the past 30 years, has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested. W5 reviews the evidence he painstakingly assembled while behind bars.
W5 Producer Shelley Ayres explains how she was in awe to meet what the Guinness Book of World Record's has named the World's Tallest Teenager, a 17-year-old from Quebec who plays for Team Canada.
CTV W5 investigates what authorities knew about plans to smuggle cocaine out of the Dominican Republic on a Toronto-bound Pivot Airlines flight. The airline's crew is demanding justice following their eight-month detention.
Gordie Sampson has written hit songs for some of the biggest names in country music, including Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan. CTV W5 speaks with the Grammy winner from small-town Nova Scotia about his creative process.
A CTV W5 investigation reveals that a critical shortage of volunteer firefighters in this country is having a potentially deadly impact, especially in rural Canada.
Sandie Rinaldo tells the story of the largest Black military unit in Canadian history, whose members had to fight to serve for Canada in the First World War as they faced rampant racism at home.
Three Toronto men have been charged with attempted murder after they allegedly shot an innocent dog walker in Schomberg, Ont. in a case of mistaken identity.
Gatineau police arrested an 18-year-old man in connection to the investigation into a hidden camera discovered in the washroom at an elementary school.
Police charged three men, believed to be members of a street gang, with the attempted murder of a 65-year-old man who was shot 13 times while walking his dog in Schomberg in February.
Multiple sources have told CTV News that the WSIB is now eyeing the 3M building at 300 Tartan Dr. near Veterans Memorial Parkway as a new headquarters.
Around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, officers responded to two separate calls where citizens believed they heard gunshots in the 100 block of Albert Street near Talbot Street.
The defence has completed its closing summations in an ongoing Windsor murder trial involving the shooting death of 20-year-old Madisen Gingras in April of 2020.
Shoppers with a sweet tooth completely sold out a small town bakery in the Town of Essex recently, while streetscape construction continues in front of the Essex Centre store.
There are plans for an arts and culture hub in Griffintown, built using old decommissioned metro cars. "It's going to be a multi-functional space with very different experiences," said Frederic Morin-Bordeleau, who, along with his brother Etienne bought the metro cars in 2018.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he raised concerns about reports that LGBTQ2S+ rights and democracy are under threat in Poland during a Friday visit with its prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, in Toronto.
Pierre Poilievre is off to Manitoba to rally Conservative supporters ahead of a byelection that Maxime Bernier is hoping will send him back to Parliament. The far-right People's Party of Canada leader lost his Quebec seat in the 2019 federal vote and lost again in the 2021 election.
The number of people in Canada with inflammatory bowel disease is increasing rapidly and is expected to grow to 470,000 by 2035, according to a new report from Crohn's and Colitis Canada.
Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests.
Researchers at Carleton University's Department of Electronics in Ottawa created a ground-breaking testing device to detect early signs of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s through biomolecular activities in a person’s saliva.
Twitter's head of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, told Reuters on Thursday that she has resigned from the social media company, which has faced criticism for lax protections against harmful content since billionaire Elon Musk acquired it in October.
Deep in an open coal mine in southern Greece, researchers have discovered the antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans' hominin ancestors. The find announced Thursday would drag the dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. The oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, director Christopher Nolan offers a guide to his favourite formats, explaining why it matters and even where he likes to sit so that audiences don't feel like they need a film school degree (or one in theoretical physics) before settling on a theatre.
Cynthia Weil, a Grammy-winning lyricist of notable range and endurance who enjoyed a decades-long partnership with husband Barry Mann and helped write 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling,' 'On Broadway,' 'Walking in the Rain' and dozens of other hits, has died at age 82.
Air Canada says travellers should be prepared for further flight disruptions as it works to return service to normal following a technical malfunction Thursday.
The wildfires plaguing residents in Alberta and Nova Scotia are part of a larger trend that's driving up the cost of home insurance as extreme weather becomes more common, insurance experts say.
Memphis guard Ja Morant not being charged with a crime for twice displaying a gun on social media will not prevent the NBA from handing down more discipline, Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday.
The Detroit Grand Prix, coming off Josef Newgarden's win at the Indianapolis 500, provides drivers and teams with a chance for a fresh start for the rest of the season.
America apparently needs more car seats. So, when Volkswagen unveiled the ID. Buzz, a retro-styled electric van, last year, it noted that the version for the North American market would be longer and would have three rows of seats.
