Quebec judge rules 2 should face U.S. extradition in human smuggling river deaths

A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled two people from Akwesasne should face extradition to the U.S., where they face charges related to a human smuggling run across the St. Lawrence River that ended in the drowning deaths of nine people on March 29, 2023.

Justice Gregory Moore said the federal Crown presented enough evidence to meet the low evidentiary standard for this stage of the extradition process. 

“This is a very limited role and intended only to decide as to whether there is a prima facie case, whether a … crime has been committed,” said Moore. 

“The extradition judge did not hear a trial, and the process before the judge is intended to be expeditious, [deciding] only whether a trial should be held.”

The federal justice minister will make the final determination on the extradition.

Stephanie Square and Rahsontanohstha Delormier are both wanted into the U.S. to face an indictment filed with the U.S. Federal Court for the Northern District of New York in connection with the drowning deaths of a family of four from India and a Romanian-Canadian family of four with two young children. 

While the alleged roles of Square and Delormier in the tragedy are very different, their cases were heard together during this phase of the extradition process. 

Romanian citizens Florian Iordache, Cristina Iordache and their two Canadian-born children, Evelin, 2, and Elyen, 16 months, drowned on March 29, 2023, when the boat they travelled in capsized in stormy weather on the St. Lawrence River. 

They shared the boat with a family of four from India, father Pravindbhai Chaudhari, mother Dakshaben Chaudhari, and their two adult children, son Mitkumar and daughter Vidhiben. The boat launched from Cornwall Island headed for the southern banks of the St. Lawrence, but never made it.

The bodies of the two families were pulled from the river between March 30 and 31. 

The body of Casey Oakes, the Akwesasne resident who was at the boat’s tiller, was found in July.

Akwesanse is a Haudenensaunee community that is severed by the Canada-U.S. border. It sits about 120 kilometres west of Montreal and its territory is split between Ontario, Quebec and New York State.

The Chaudhari family, in Canada on visitors visas, paid $100,000, and the Iordaches, facing deportation, paid about $15,000 to a human smuggling network allegedly led by a Montreal man named Thesingarasan Rasiah. Both families wanted to enter the U.S. 

The RCMP charged Rasiah, who is in custody, with numerous human smuggling related charges in June 2024. 

Case goes to minister

This case now goes before the federal justice minister to determine whether they should be surrendered to the U.S. Square and Delormier have 30 days to file for an interim release and an appeal. They can also make submissions to the minister. 

The minister’s extradition decision can also be challenged at the appeal court and Supreme Court of Canada level.

Square’s Montreal lawyer Joel Girard said they would be appealing to the federal justice minister directly, via a letter, that he should reject the extradition request. Girard questions whether the U.S. has any jurisdiction to pursue criminal charges over the fatalities on the river because they occurred within Canadian territory. 

“An alleged crime committed in Canada should be prosecuted in Canada,” said Girard.

Delormier’s Montreal lawyer Antonio Cabral said he planned to apply for an interim release for Delormier. Cabral said he also plans to appeal Moore’s decision and seek a Gladue report for Delormier. Girard said he would also be seeking to send a Gladue report for Square to the minister.

Gladue reports are basically like pre-sentence reports that include the historical impact of dispossession and colonialism on the life of Indigenous offenders. However, there is case law on the use of Gladue reports in the extradition process.

Cabral said he planned to fight Delormier’s extradition “with all of my power and energy.”

Square faces eight counts in the indictment, including alien smuggling, conspiracy to commit alien smuggling,alien smuggling for profit and four counts of alien smuggling causing death for each of the Romanian-Canadian families who died.

Delormier faces five counts, including conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, alien smuggling and alien smuggling for profit. 

Much of the U.S. case against Delormier and Square is based on evidence gathered by Canadian authorities, according to the publicly available record. Square was the alleged organizer of the run who allegedly hired Casey Oakes to take the two families across the river. 

Delormier was found on an island during the day of March 30 on the verge of hypothermia. The extradition file alleges he was piloting a boat bought by Square that broke down on the way to Cornwall Island where the families waited to be smuggled.