Kinew vows ‘work is starting now’ to recover Indigenous women’s remains from landfill

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This article was published 26/10/2023 (724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s new premier has promised the families of two slain Indigenous women his government will try to recover their remains from a Winnipeg-area landfill.

During an emotional meeting Thursday — as Premier Wab Kinew welcomed loved ones of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran to the Manitoba legislature — Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett, made a tearful plea.

“I just hope that you guys can help us bring our girls home,” said Bartlett. “We need that, really bad. Please, help me bring her home.”

“We’re going to try, and that work is starting now,” replied Kinew, Manitoba’s first First Nations premier.

Kinew then met privately with the families, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick, Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson and others to discuss a proposed search of the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, north of the capital.

The premier, who was sworn in Oct. 18, invited the families and Indigenous leadership to the meeting in a bid to “reset” their relationship with the province, after the former Progressive Conservative government had refused to support a search.

Joined by fellow First Nations NDP MLAs, Kinew apologized for the way the families had been previously treated.

The premier told them he was sorry opponents used them as a “political prop” during the recent provincial election campaign. The Tories promoted their refusal to search the landfill in campaign advertisements that were deemed insensitive by many.

“We’re coming together to say that we need to seek justice, and that is what our government is committed to doing,” Kinew told Harris and Myran’s loved ones.

“I also want to say I’m very sorry for losing your moms, for losing your sisters, for losing your loved ones. None of us can change the past, but we’re here today to tell you that we’re going to try,” the premier added.

“I just hope that you guys can help us bring our girls home. We need that, really bad. Please, help me bring her home.”– Marcedes Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett

“We’re going to try to bring your moms, your loved ones home. We’re going to try to work with you and the leadership, First Nations communities and other levels of government to do the right thing here, and we’re going to try to find justice.”

After the roughly 90-minute meeting, which included a traditional pipe ceremony, Merrick said she remains optimistic the landfill will be searched.

“We know that this process will be done, but we don’t want to be a political yo-yo between the province and the federal government, which previously is what happened,” she said.

Bartlett told reporters she appreciated the premier’s apology and was relieved to hear it. “I’m happy that he did apologize because it’s been a long year, year-and-a-half.”

The change in provincial government has brought a markedly different approach to the issue, Wilson noted.

“Being able to sit in a circle, compared to previous meetings (with the PCs), where we’re sitting across the table from one another, it’s a very different energy,” she said.

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In July, then-premier Heather Stefanson told the families of Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, her government would not knowingly risk the health and safety of workers with no guarantee remains will be found.

Before winning a majority government Oct. 3, Kinew said the NDP would support a search of Prairie Green, located in the Rural Municipality of Rosser.

The Winnipeg Police Service believes four Indigenous women — Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified victim named Buffalo Woman by elders — were slain by an alleged serial killer last year.

Investigators believe the remains of Harris and Myran, who were from Long Plain, were transported to Prairie Green in the same waste service truckload after they were killed in May 2022.

Winnipeg police decided it would not be feasible for officers to look for the remains due, in part, to the large volume of waste deposited during the 34-day period before detectives learned of their likely location.

“We’re going to try to bring your moms, your loved ones home. We’re going to try to work with you and the leadership, First Nations communities and other levels of government to do the right thing here, and we’re going to try to find justice.”–Premier Wab Kinew

After no government took the lead, an Indigenous-led committee — overseen by AMC — conducted a feasibility study, with $500,000 in funding from Ottawa.

The study found a search could take one to three years and cost between $84 million and $184 million. Hired specialists said there was a good chance of success. The study said risks or hazards, such as toxic chemicals and asbestos, could be mitigated.

While supportive, Ottawa had said a search could not proceed without the co-operation of the Manitoba government, given it has jurisdiction over waste management in the province.

The day after the NDP won a majority government, the federal Liberals provided $740,000 to further study the training, facilities and equipment that would be required for such a search, and how to mitigate its risks.

Wilson said the committee was given 90 days to report back to Ottawa. A potential timeline as to when a search could begin will hopefully become clearer by winter, while more discussions are held, she added.

Kinew and federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree have already discussed the matter.

Prairie Green’s owner, Waste Connections of Canada, is prepared to lend expertise or other assistance, after contributing to the feasibility study, said district manager Barry Blue.

Anandasangaree’s office, meanwhile, is considering the Indigenous-led committee’s request for additional funding to study the feasibility of searching city-run Brady Road landfill.

The City of Winnipeg is open to a search at its only active landfill, but the effort would have to be led by senior levels of government, said Colin Fast, a spokesman for Mayor Scott Gillingham.

On Thursday, city council cast a divided vote to ask the provincial and federal governments to fund the Prairie Green search. The motion passed 9-6, with Coun. Jason Schreyer absent.

Gillingham, who did not support the motion, has long-stressed senior governments already have jurisdiction over the matter in the landfill outside city limits.

“Consistently, my position has been that the City of Winnipeg is there to provide support and assistance… It’s really up to the provincial and federal governments to make a determination as to whether or not to search the landfill,” he said.

Winnipeg police have charged Jeremy Skibicki, 36, with four counts of first-degree murder. A trial is scheduled to begin in April.

Partial remains belonging to Contois, 24, were found in a garbage bin in North Kildonan in May 2022 and in a section of the Brady Road landfill when it was searched by police the following month.

The WPS previously said it does not have a definitive location of Buffalo Woman’s remains.

A police spokeswoman said Thursday there have not been any new developments in the search for Buffalo Woman.

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Chris Kitching
Reporter

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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