Landfill search advocates decry lack of provincial support

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This article was published 06/07/2023 (826 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The families of two slain Indigenous women whose remains are believed to be in a Winnipeg-area landfill have rejected the Manitoba government’s reasons for refusing to support a search of the site.

Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran’s loved ones were angry, hurt and disappointed after Premier Heather Stefanson told them Wednesday the province will not fund or participate in a search.

Stefanson said her government will not risk the health and safety of workers when there is no guarantee the women’s remains will be found.

“I honestly wanted to believe that she and her government would do the right thing,” said Harris’s cousin, Melissa Robinson. “Morgan’s been there now for well over a year. I hope they sleep well at night knowing their decision is leaving human remains in the landfill.”

The families and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said a feasibility study by an Indigenous-led committee identified ways to mitigate health and safety risks.

“We’ve got all the precautions in there, preventative measures, in the report,” Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett, said by phone. “There’s no reason not to search for them.”

The families and the committee, led by AMC, are waiting on the federal government to make a decision on whether it will fund a search at the privately-owned Prairie Green Landfill, north of the Manitoba capital.

“They keep passing it back and forth, the federal and the provincial governments,” said Bartlett. “Nobody wants to commit.”

She said the families are prepared to do whatever it takes to ensure the landfill is searched. “We’re willing to do the search ourselves.”

A spokeswoman for Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said his office is “diligently” reviewing the report. Ottawa gave the committee $500,000 to conduct the study.

Miller’s office is also reviewing the committee’s proposal to search the city-run Brady Road landfill, on the south edge of Winnipeg.

Some of Harris’s family members joined a blockade of the Brady Road site Thursday in protest of the province’s decision. Additional demonstrations could follow, they warned.

“We’re going to keep making some noise,” said Robinson, adding she walked out of the meeting when Stefanson offered the families mental health supports and funding for a memorial.

“I thought, ‘How dare you?’” said Robinson. “That was a big slap in my face.”

Merrick said she was disheartened and in disbelief when Stefanson informed her and the families of the government’s decision. She described the premier’s explanation as a “feeble excuse” that sends a message First Nations lives do not matter.

Provincial representatives on the committee did not express any safety concerns, Merrick added.

Merrick said the province’s decision undermines reconciliation efforts and adds to the families’ anguish.

“Our whole relationship is at stake, in terms of what transpired,” the grand chief said. “We’ve come to the table every time in good faith.”

The committee’s 55-page report said up to 61,000 tonnes of waste would be excavated and moved to an on-site building, where the material would be examined on a conveyor belt.

It said preparatory work and the actual search could take one to three years, and cost between $84 million and $184 million, with no certainty of a successful outcome.

Not conducting a search could cause considerable emotional distress to the families, send a stark message to the public and bring lasting repercussions, the report stated.

While it found a search is feasible, the study identified considerable risks to workers, including toxic chemicals, dangerous gases and asbestos. The report listed a range of measures to train and protect workers from hazards, and prevent cave-ins of an excavation pit.

Workers would wear protective equipment from head to toe. Hazmat teams would be on site at all times. The report proposed having paramedics and ambulances on standby, and taking baseline vital signs for each person working in the pit.

The study received input from experts such as a forensic anthropologist who worked on the Robert Pickton investigation in B.C., a forensic consultant who is an ex-Mountie, and representatives from the province, Winnipeg police and RCMP.

Stefanson defended the decision Thursday, saying it was based on safety, not money.

“It was a very tough and emotional decision. I’m a mother, and I can’t imagine what they are going through right now,” she said of the families.

Stefanson expressed concerns a search could jeopardize an ongoing court case.

The responsibility for a potential search rests with the federal government, the premier added.

Merrick said the province bears some of the responsibility.

Located in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, the Prairie Green landfill is regulated by the province. Permits or permissions must be obtained before a search can proceed.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said the city doesn’t have the jurisdiction nor the resources for a search at Prairie Green. He said the city would consider requests for funding or assistance for matters such as DNA testing.

Landfill owner Waste Connections of Canada did not respond to a request for comment.

Winnipeg police believe Harris, Myran and two other Indigenous women — Rebecca Contois and an unidentified victim temporarily named Buffalo Woman by elders — were slain by an alleged serial killer last year.

Police said 34 days had elapsed before officers learned Harris and Myran’s remains had likely been deposited at Prairie Green. No additional waste has been deposited in that section of the landfill since then.

Police decided not to search the site due to, in part, the volume of waste dumped and compacted over the month-long period. The Indigenous-led committee formed as a result of that decision and no government taking the lead.

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Partial remains belonging to Contois were found in a North Kildonan garbage bin and, in June 2022, at the Brady Road landfill during a police search.

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

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching

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.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.