RIP.
Maybe they thought they could sneak across the border in the cover of snow but the snow turned into a blizzard? Maybe they had made arrangements with someone on the US side and didn't want to change those arrangements? Either way, even if they wore lots of layers of warm clothes, temp that cold and with strong winds would make the wind chill factor too much for most people in the world, let alone for South Asians.
I don't know the employment situation in Canada but in America there is a massive shortage of workers these days. Tons of employment opportunities, even if mostly lower paying. But guaranteed jobs and enough pay to more than survive. Parts of America, especially rural, are till very cheap, compared with Canada. Immigration crackdowns are here but people still find work easily. Ask Mexicans.
This thread does make you think about something else, though: When Afghans were trying to ride out of Afghanistan through the American led effort, the Western press totally focused on the 'fleeing Taliban' part. That was intentionally very bad piece of journalism! Afghans were as much fleeing the Taliban as they were seeking better opportunities, especially when they could use the chaos of the withdrawals to hop onto one of the aircrafts right there and flee. Indians are, in contrast, far richer and more stable and yet they flee like this--from one of the top economies in the world to another top economy in the world. So should the headline be: "Indians fleeing starvation, filth in Modi's India but freeze to death"?? I have lost faith in Western journalism since the summer of 2021 with the possible exception of Reuters and a few DW correspondents.