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A woman from Akwesasne arrested weeks ago on an extradition request from the U.S., alleging she is responsible for the deaths of four of the nine people who drowned in an attempt to smuggle them across the Canada/U.S. border last year, has requested a bail hearing.
On Friday, lawyers at the Montreal courthouse involved in the extradition case brought against Stephanie Square, 51, of Akwesasne, informed Superior Court Justice James Brunton that a motion seeking her release has been prepared.
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Lawyers for the Crown and the United States said they are opposed to Square being released based on all three of the reasons in the Criminal Code available to judges to deny bail. The three reasons are: to ensure the accused attends court in the future, to protect the safety of the public, and to maintain confidence in the administration of justice.
The bail hearing is expected to be heard in October.
Square was arrested on Aug. 22 and has been detained since then. She is named in a warrant in a U.S. District Court charging her with conspiracy to commit alien smuggling, four counts of alien smuggling for profit and four counts of alien smuggling causing death. She is alleged to have tried to smuggle four members of a Romanian family: Florin Iordache, his wife, Cristina (Monalisa) Zenaida Iordache, their two-year-old daughter, Evelin, and one-year-old son, Elyen, into the U.S.
They were among the nine people who drowned on March 29, 2023. The other five people who drowned in the botched smuggling operation were Akwesasne resident Casey Oakes and a family from the western Indian state of Gujarat. They included the father, Praveenbhai Chaudhari, 50; mother, Dakshaben, 45; son, Meet, 20; and daughter, Vidhi, 23. Square is not alleged to have tried to smuggle them.
The attempt to smuggle the eight people across the border from Akwesasne ended in disaster when the boat used for the operation apparently sank in freezing waters.
An affidavit filed with the extradition request alleges Square made arrangements for the boat that sank and that she continued efforts to smuggle people across the border after the drownings.
She also has a criminal record in Quebec. On Sept. 18, 2023, she pleaded guilty at the Valleyfield courthouse to failing to stop a motor vehicle or vessel while being pursued by the Akwesasne police. The charge involved an incident that took place just weeks before the nine people drowned. She was sentenced to one year of probation.
In 1996, she pleaded guilty to breaking and entering, uttering threats, resisting arrest and carrying a concealed weapon. In that case, also heard at the Valleyfield courthouse, she was sentenced to two years of probation.
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