Three-year-old Aylan Kurdi and his Syrian-Kurdish family were attempting to cross to the Greek island of Kos in an overcrowded dinghy but he and at least 11 others drowned.
The family reportedly fled Kobane, a Syrian town that has seen fierce fighting between Kurds and ISIS, for the last year.
He died, along with his five-year-old brother Galip and their mother Rehan, in a desperate attempt to reach Canada.
The father of the two boys, Abdullah, survived the tragedy.
He says his only wish now is to return to Kobane and bury his family – and then be buried alongside them, according to his family in Vancouver.
“I heard the news at five o’clock in this morning,” Teema Kurdi, Abdullah’s sister, told the National Post.
She learned of the drowning through the wife of another brother, Mohammad.
“All he said was, my wife and two boys are dead,” she added.
Teema, a Vancouver hairdresser who emigrated to Canada more than 20 years ago, said the family had their immigration application rejected in June.
She added: “I was trying to sponsor them, and I have my friends and my neighbours who helped me with the bank deposits, but we couldn’t get them out, and that is why they went in the boat.
“I was even paying rent for them in Turkey, but it is horrible the way they treat Syrians there.”