Family with 2 toddlers found ‘frozen’ after trying to cross Canadian border

A family of four is in hospital after they tried to cross the Canadian border in Havelock, Que.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) says it received a call late in the night on Thursday from the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) requesting assistance to find the family, who had gotten lost trying to enter the country.

“A family with two very young children, one and two years old, were lost in the woods for many, many hours before the mother decided to call 911,” Martina Pillarova, a spokesperson with the RCMP, tells CTV News. “After a long operation trying to find the family, they finally found them at 4:15 a.m.”

Pillarova explains the family was sitting under a tree when officers located them.

“They were exhausted. They couldn’t move anymore. They were frozen. They were trying to keep the children warm,” she said, adding the family was not properly dressed for Canadian winter. “They were wearing coats, but they didn’t have appropriate shoes or boots or gloves or anything like that.”

Pillarova says officers gave them their hats and coats in an attempt to keep the family warm while waiting for paramedics.

“They couldn’t move them because of their state,” she said.

The family was transported to a hospital in Châteauguay, Que. to be treated for hypothermia.

Their lives are not considered to be in danger.

The RCMP explains the family crossed over from the U.S. but has origins elsewhere.

They have no status in Canada and have asked for refugee status.

The file has been transferred to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

With files from CTV News Montreal’s Kelly Greig