Blockade at landfill cost city nearly $1 million

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This article was published 13/02/2023 (938 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg is facing nearly $1 million of added costs and lost revenues after a blockade at its only active landfill, with some of the tab yet to be counted.

“The total financial impact is… $915,000 for 2022. Lost revenue isn’t an out-of-pocket cost but it’s part of the conversation here,” Tim Shanks, water and waste director, told council’s finance committee Monday.

Protesters began demonstrating at the Brady Road landfill in December, to back their demand for a search of the south Winnipeg site for the remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

To continue waste collection, the city began diverting garbage to two privately owned landfills outside of Winnipeg.

While some costs are still being counted, the city paid $405,000 in added tipping fees in December. The full “out-of-pocket” cost rises to $461,000, once added recycling and other fees are included, said Shanks.

Based on previous demand, the municipal government estimates it lost an additional $454,000 of fee revenues in December from companies and residents who decided not to go to the landfill during the blockade, he noted.

Shanks told reporters 2023 costs linked to the protest are still being tabulated.

He said the city’s garbage contractors have not charged extra fees for changes to their work.

“(On) the collection contracts, there has been no extra charges,” he said.

An April report is expected to reveal the full financial impact on the landfill, which Shanks said will include a “minor” bill for added security at the site.

Relatives of missing and slain Indigenous women and their supporters began protesting at the landfill Dec. 11, 2022. A partial blockade was followed by a more permanent one Dec. 18, according to a city report.

The landfill resumed normal business hours Jan. 6, while an encampment remains near the site entrance.

Morgan Harris’s relatives and their supporters began the demonstration at Brady Road. A second group gathered at the privately-owned Prairie Green Landfill north of the city, where police believe the remains of Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, are located.

Alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, 35, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified victim (who’s been named Buffalo Woman by elders).

Coun. Jeff Browaty, council’s finance chairman, said he’s pleased to see work is being done to address the issue behind the protest.

“We’re happy that the federal government has now stepped forward with money to now go on and do the feasibility study on the search, and also happy that the blockade ended… but it’s still a sensitive matter,” said Browaty.

Operations at Prairie Green paused in early December, but partially resumed Dec. 30, with a section cordoned off where the remains are suspected to be. A feasibility study for a search at Prairie Green is expected to begin soon, after the federal government agreed to provide $500,000 to support it.

Protesters at Brady Road called for its operations to stop to search for additional missing or slain Indigenous women, such as Tanya Nepinak, whose remains are believed to be in the landfill. Police did not find Nepinak’s remains during a search that lasted for about a week in 2012.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga