Ottawa delivers $500K for feasibility study on landfill search for serial killer’s victims

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This article was published 08/02/2023 (941 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The federal government is providing $500,000 to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to support a study exploring the feasibility of searching a landfill north of the city for human remains.

Police believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are buried at Prairie Green landfill in the RM of Rosser, but have said it would be impossible to search the site.

Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman referred to as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) — all of them Indigenous — are believed to have been victims of a serial killer last year.

Jeremy Skibicki, 35, is charged with first-degree murder in all four deaths.

Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada is providing the money to pay for the study.

“This funding will provide much-needed resources to conduct a proper feasibility study for Prairie Green Landfill,” AMC Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said in a statement Wednesday.

“We anticipate that the work ahead will be emotionally and spiritually demanding for all involved, and as we continue to move forward at an expedient pace, we remind all those affected by this tragedy to ensure they are accessing the supports available.”

NDP Critic for Women and Gender Equality Leah Gazan called the funding an “important first step.”

“(This announcement) would not have happened without the tireless efforts of families and long-time advocates to address the ongoing genocide of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people,” said Gazan (Winnipeg Centre).

Mayor Scott Gillingham said Wednesday that no municipal dollars have been earmarked in the proposed 2023 budget to assist in the effort.

“This is the first I’ve heard of that,” he said of the federal funding. “That’s good news, and certainly we have been at the table and remain at the table with the feasibility group and I’ll look for an update from them, as well.”

He said there would be a time to review how police have handled the investigation.

“This is important, not only for the families of the victims but I think this is important for most Winnipeggers, as well,” he said. “These are real daughters, real mothers, these are people that need — families that need — assistance and some closure and finding, and getting answers to the questions.”

Late last year, WPS Chief Danny Smyth sparked outrage from the victims’ families that led to protesters blockading the entrance to the city’s Brady Road landfill after he said police didn’t have the expertise to search the area at Prairie Green landfill where investigators believe the remains of Harris and Myran are located.

Police found Contois’s partial remains at Brady Road during a search in June.

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Malak Abas
Reporter

Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.

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