Man facing extradition after family of migrants froze to death at Canada-US border

Another man has been arrested in connection with the deaths of a migrant family on the Canada-U.S. border near Emerson, Man., in 2022.

The federal justice department says Fenil Patel was arrested Sept. 5 on an extradition request from the United States.

He is facing a hearing this week in Ontario Superior Court.

Police in India announced in 2023 they were looking for Patel on human trafficking and other charges after a couple and their two children froze to death while trying to walk across the border in a frigid nighttime blizzard.

Two men in the United States — Harshkumar Patel and Steve Shand — were tried and convicted for being part of the smuggling effort south of the border.

A witness told the trial Fenil Patel was a key organizer in human smuggling north of the border and drove the family from Toronto to Winnipeg just before they died trying to cross.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2025

The Canadian Press