Fritznel Richard, who died near Roxham Road border crossing, made final phone call to his wife

Fritznel Richard, the man who was found dead in Quebec last week after attempting to cross the border into the United States, was attempting to reach his family before Christmas, his widow shared in an interview Monday. 

"He was more than just a husband, he was a good father," Richard's spouse said over the phone, speaking in Haitian Creole. 

Frantz André, who has for years helped asylum seekers make and defend their claims to stay in Canada, is assisting the family in their next steps. He translated the woman's words into English. 

CBC News has agreed not to publish the woman's identity because of her precarious immigration status and fears of deportation back to Haiti. 

The family first fled to Brazil and had a child, who is now 19 months old, while living there. Fritznel also has an 11-year-old son, who is still in Haiti. They then moved to the United States with the goal of seeking asylum in Canada, she said. 

The couple and their baby first walked into the country a little over a year ago via Roxham Road, a popular unofficial border crossing that straddles the Canadian-American border between Quebec and the state of New York. 

But Richard's wife says the couple struggled to make a decent living in the Montreal area, due to delays in obtaining a work permit and rising costs of food and housing. 

André says he knows at least 10 people who made the same decision as them to cross back into the U.S. One of them was deported back to Haiti by American officials and died in gang crossfire two weeks later, he said.

He says their situation is emblematic of the mounting struggles facing newcomers amid a new surge of migrants coming to Quebec through Roxham Road — which was reopened for the first time since the start of the pandemic in fall 2021 — and a serious backlog in immigration processing. 

André wasn't aware of Richard and his wife's case before he died, but said "he's not an exception. The winter is going to make it more difficult and the level of risk is just too high."

Richard and his wife lived in Quebec for about a year before she opted to cross back into the U.S. in October to deal with a serious health issue. He attempted to follow her in late December.

Quebec provincial police say Richard had been reported missing to Montreal police in late December but that a search for him was called off on Dec. 29 because police believed he had entered the U.S.

His body was found between the Lacolle border crossing and the unofficial crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec. He appears to have died from hypothermia. While Canada has set up a station where RCMP officers briefly detain irregular border-crossing asylum seekers upon entry, there is no such post on the U.S. side.

Richard's wife said her husband called her as he was trying to find his way across the border.