Landfill search for remains could take three years, $184M: report
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2023 (931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Indigenous leaders and the families of two Indigenous women whose remains are likely in a Winnipeg-area landfill pressed Ottawa to fund a search Friday, while sharing the findings of a feasibility study.
An Indigenous-led committee concluded a search of the Prairie Green Landfill is feasible — and it could take up to three years and cost $184 million, with no guarantee remains will be found.
Relatives of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, who both were allegedly slain by a serial killer, said a search must be carried out with government support, no matter the timeline or cost.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Cambria Harris, daughter of Morgan Harris, said the families shouldn’t have to plead for a search.
“It breaks my heart that I don’t have a grave to take my niece and nephew to this Mother’s Day,” Jorden Myran said of her sister’s young children. “It shouldn’t be a question whether to search or not. Let’s not fail these women and let’s bring them home.”
Harris’s daughter, Cambria, said the families shouldn’t have to plead for a search.
“I wish others could understand the hurt and emotional turmoil it causes when you tell us you will not search for our loved ones,” she said at a news conference in Winnipeg. “The message that you send is that you do not care about our Indigenous people, and that it is OK to continuously dump them like trash.
“That’s a gruesome and very, very dangerous message that you are sending to not only our Indigenous community, but greater society as well.”
Ottawa gave $500,000 for the study.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller, who received the report last week, said Ottawa will hold discussions with the families and Indigenous leaders while determining the next steps.
During a visit to Nain, N.L., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government will do whatever it can to help.
Winnipeg police believe the remains of Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, were deposited at the landfill north of the city in May 2022.
Police believe Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified victim since named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) were also killed by the same person.
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Some of Contois’s remains were found at the city-run Brady Road landfill in June.
Jeremy Skibicki, 36, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
The study said a search at Prairie Green could take one to three years and cost between $84 million and $184 million.
Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which is overseeing the committee, is optimistic about federal funding.
“The (AMC) would like to make it thoroughly clear that if a search is not carried out, it will demonstrate to all First Nations across Canada that this government condones the despairing act of disposing our First Nation women in landfills,” she said.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said the police position sent a “dark message” to Indigenous women and girls. 
If a search doesn’t happen, it could cause “considerable distress” to the families, the report stated.
Support must be offered to the families and Indigenous communities throughout the process, the study said.
It recommends excavating and moving landfill material to a conveyor belt, where it would be searched by trained staff.
The study noted there are “considerable risks,” including exposure to toxic chemicals and asbestos.
Harris’s cousin and committee member Kirstin Witwicki said hazards can be mitigated with preventative measures.
She said Miller asked during a phone call Thursday what her family’s “stance” was based on the report’s findings. “I let him know that our stance remains the same. It has not changed that we want Morgan home.”
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Kirstin Witwicki, a cousin of Morgan Harris, said hazards can be mitigated with preventative measures. 
Melissa Normand, a cousin of Harris, said she was “appalled” by the question.
Aissatou Diop, a spokeswoman for Miller, said the minister’s intentions were not to question the families’ pain or dismiss the necessity of a search.
“The minister did not want to presume the recommendations of the report without speaking to the families directly first,” Diop wrote in an email.
Kyra Wilson, chief of Long Plain First Nation, where Harris and Myran were from, said the committee has the support of Prairie Green owner Waste Connections of Canada.
Wilson said governments have a duty to support a search.
“We are going to do that work with or without you,” she said. “If you’re going to support us, we appreciate that. If you’re not, then get out of the way.”
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Elle Harris (right), daughter of Morgan Harris, wipes away tears, while sitting with Melissa Normand, a cousin of Morgan Harris.
The report calls for more funding for addictions treatment, mental health services, affordable housing and homeless shelters for Indigenous people.
It also recommends GPS tracking and rear-facing cameras for all garbage trucks in Canada, and surveillance cameras at all landfill entrances and exits.
Ottawa is reviewing the committee’s proposal to search the Brady Road landfill, Miller’s office confirmed.
The committee formed in December, after the Winnipeg Police Service said it would not search Prairie Green due to, in part, the volume of waste dumped over a month-long period before officers learned the remains were likely there.
The WPS position sent a “dark message” to Indigenous women and girls, said Merrick.
Committee members include forensic experts and representatives from the province, city, WPS and RCMP.
“…We will not be commenting further on the recovery efforts being contemplated at the Prairie Green Landfill.”–WPS Chief Danny Smyth
At a separate event Friday morning, Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said she could not comment on potential commitments because she had not yet received the report.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham expects Ottawa and the province to take the lead, given the landfill’s rural location and the technical expertise and funding required.
He said garbage trucks contracted by the city already have GPS tracking and rear-facing cameras, and Brady Road landfill has surveillance cameras at its entrances and exits.
Chief Danny Smyth said the WPS’s focus is the pending prosecution of Skibicki.
“As such, we will not be commenting further on the recovery efforts being contemplated at the Prairie Green Landfill,” he said.
— with files from Joyanne Pursaga
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @chriskitching
Landfill feasibility study committee executive summary
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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