- Tuesday, April 23, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday (4) spoke out over the recent deaths of eight people, including four Indians, on his country’s border with the United States, saying a proper investigation is required to find answers and cautioned against speculating what could have led to the tragedy.
Besides the Indians to belonged to a family from the western state of Gujarat, a family of Romanian descent was also among the victims.
Members of the two ill-fated families drowned in the St Lawrence River last week while illegally trying to enter into the American territory from Canada. The bodies were later recovered late last week from a marsh on the riverbank near Akwesasne, a community that straddles the Canadian states of Quebec and Ontario and the US state of New York.
The Indian victims were identified by their kin in India as Pravin Chaudhary, 50; Dakshaben Chaudhary, 45, their daughter Vidhi, 23; and son Meet, 20.
It is too soon to draw connections between the tragedy in Akwesasne and the recent closing of the illegal border crossing at Roxham Road, Trudeau said along with Quebec premier Francois Legault.
Some refugee and immigration defence groups have said stricter border policies — recently announced by the federal government under pressure from Quebec and the other provinces — could be a factor pushing new arrivals to seek yet more ways to travel under the radar.
“There is not just dismay, there is heartbreak at what happened to these families,” The Montreal Gazette newspaper quoted Trudeau as telling reporters.
“It is something that as governments and as Canadians we need to continue to do everything we can to keep people safe, and particularly the most vulnerable. There are lots of questions about what exactly happened in the tragedy, he said.
“That’s why those questions are being answered and we need to make sure there’s a proper investigation to confirm what we know before we speculate on what could have contributed or what could have prevented this,” Trudeau added.
“We need to ground it in real facts and a proper investigation, and that’s what we’re going to be doing. There are many people full of questions, which is normal, but we must not leap to conclusions or say it is because of this or blocked by this.”
Legault said it was terrible news and his thoughts are with the people killed and their families.
(With PTI inputs)
