The hunt is on for 45 Romanian adults and children smuggled into Canada.
Government officials said Wednesday the missing are among 85 people who entered the country illegally at intervals stretching back to February.
Authorities have found 40 of them so far, and 30 of these were detained under new immigration law provisions that saw the entire group designated as part of an "irregular arrival," which essentially means a human-smuggling operation.
The first of five waves of Romanian nationals began arriving in Canada in February, officials said Wednesday.
They travelled to Mexico, crossed illegally into the U.S., and then sneaked across unmarked border crossings in Quebec.
