Kinew promises landfill search update Tuesday as families demand action

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This article was published 10/06/2024 (495 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Family members of the women killed by Jeremy Skibicki say now that his fate is in the judge’s hands, they can turn their attention to bringing their loved ones home by having a landfill searched for their remains.

Four weeks of testimony wrapped up Monday with closing arguments. Skibicki, 37, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24; Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe or Buffalo Woman. His defence argues he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Family members of the three identified victims will meet with Premier Wab Kinew on Tuesday to discuss a search of the Prairie Green Landfill, north of Winnipeg.

“I can only hope that this is one step closer to bringing my mom home,” said Cambria Harris, daughter of Morgan Harris, at a news conference Monday afternoon.

Police have said they believe the remains of Harris and Myran were deposited in the landfill after Skibicki disposed of them in garbage bins near his North Kildonan suite.

Harris, wearing long red braids and a beaded necklace depicting a woman with brown hair, said she and others had to put thoughts of the search on hold during the trial that was filled with “horrors and gruesome realities.”

Premier Wab Kinew promised an update on plans to search the private landfill would be made public Tuesday.

“We’ve invited the families who are asking for the Prairie Green Landfill search to the Manitoba legislature for a meeting… where we will share our plans to search the Prairie Green Landfill,” Kinew told reporters at a news conference in Whitehorse, where he had attended a meeting of the western premiers and territorial leaders.

“Once we have had those conversations… we will have a significant update for the public about the next steps in that process.”

The Manitoba and federal governments have put up $40 million for the search, plus a combined $700,000 for mental health supports to those affected.

“I always try to put the families first because what they’ve been put through is something none of us want to imagine,” Kinew said when asked about the search. “It’s been made all the more difficult by politicization and a very difficult trial period and the intense public attention— rightfully so, given the severity of the crimes.”

Now that Chief Justice Glenn Joyal is considering the evidence before rendering a decision July 11, the Harris family said they will turn their grief into action.

“Even after the search, we are not disappearing. We’re still gonna stand our ground. We’re still gonna fight for women,” said Elle Harris, another daughter of Morgan Harris.

Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Morgan Harris, said she demands nothing less than a firm date for the landfill search at Tuesday’s meeting.

“We are in the warm weather. This is when it needs to begin. My cousin needs to come home, it’s been over two years — I don’t even know why we’re still sitting here anymore,” she said.

Robinson said Monday was the most satisfying day in court; she believes there is no doubt Skibicki will not be found not criminally responsible for the murders.

“We are going to get justice and he is going to get convicted on all four (counts),” she said. “The judge needs to do the right thing… to show this country that it stops here, that our women are not garbage.

Outside the downtown Law Courts Building Monday afternoon, family supporters blocked the intersection at Kennedy Street and York Avenue, and staged a drum circle while others held placards that said: “Search the landfill.”

Travis Barsy, a family supporter who spoke on behalf of the Contois family, called the search an obligation.

“No more excuses, the time is now,” he told reporters.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee thanked the family for their “exemplified courage” during the criminal proceedings, and implored the government to do its part in bringing justice to the victims’ loved ones.

“This has been a dark chapter for Indigenous women,” he said. “We have to send a message to all of our society that it is wrong to harm our women. It is wrong to murder our women and it is especially wrong to throw them in landfills.”

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In 2023, the former Tory government rejected the search proposal citing potential safety risks associated with digging through tonnes of hazardous material.

At a meeting in March, Kinew assured the families of Harris and Myran that “every cubic metre” will be searched in the cell, or section, where the women are believed to be located.

The $40-million pledge is significantly less than estimates provided in feasibility and operational studies, which were conducted by an Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs-led committee with more than $1 million in federal funding.

The latest study, completed in January, said a search could cost up to $90 million if completed within a year. An earlier report pegged the cost at $180 million.

— with files from Carol Sanders

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca

Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer

Nicole Buffie is a reporter for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom as a multimedia producer in 2023. Read more about Nicole.

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