Premier accuses Ottawa of politicizing landfill search

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This article was published 13/07/2023 (787 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Heather Stefanson has fired back against a federal cabinet minister by accusing him of “recklessness” after he called her government “heartless” for not backing a search of a Winnipeg landfill for victims of an alleged serial killer.

A statement issued by the Progressive Conservative premier late Thursday accused Liberal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller of trying to “inflame and distort” a situation that requires “sensitivity and judgment.”

At an Assembly of First Nations meeting in Halifax Wednesday, Miller publicly criticized Manitoba’s decision not to conduct a search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran who were killed in 2022 and whose bodies police believe were sent to Prairie Green Landfill, north of the city.

Rather than responding to her government directly or through his officials, “minister Miller has chosen recklessness,” Stefanson’s statement said.

“What should not happen — must not happen — is the continuing politicization of this awful tragedy,” it said.

“This irresponsible approach can only compound the suffering of the families, inflame wider community issues and threaten matters already before the courts.”

A blockade of Winnipeg’s Brady Road landfill began July 6, a day after Stefanson announced the province would not support a search of the privately owned Prairie Green facility, citing health and safety concerns. The City of Winnipeg applied for a court injunction to remove the barricade protesters had set up on Brady Road to block the main entry to the province’s biggest dump. A judge is expected to rule on the application today.

On Thursday, Miller’s office said the federal government supports a search of Prairie Green but can’t move forward on its own.

“We need the co-operation of the province of Manitoba, as there are jurisdictional considerations we cannot ignore,” an email from the federal minister’s office said.

The provincial government has jurisdiction over waste management facilities and worker health and safety, which Stefanson has cited as the reason for not supporting a potentially hazardous landfill search.

“We will continue engaging the province into our conversations, and we look forward to having them at the table,” the email from Miller’s office said.

On Monday, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs will hold a news conference at which forensic consultants, private investigators and retired police chiefs from outside jurisdictions will respond to the provincial government’s refusal to search Prairie Green for the remains of the slain Indigenous women.

The assembly commissioned a $500,000 study, which was funded by the federal government, that found a search was feasible, could take between 12 and 36 months, cost between $84 million and $184 million, and poses potential health risks to searchers.

The landfill northwest of Winnipeg, owned by Waste Connections of Canada, closed off an “area of interest” since it was identified by police in June 2022.

“It will be kept inactive out of respect for the families of the missing women,” Prairie Green Landfill district manager Barry Blue said in an email Thursday.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham publicly pleaded with both the federal and provincial governments Thursday to meet and come to a conclusion about whether a search will be conducted.

“The sooner the families have decisions and clarity on this issue, the better for everyone,” he told reporters.

“We’re dealing with Prairie Green Landfill, which is a landfill in another municipality outside the city of Winnipeg under provincial jurisdiction, so any decision on that landfill ultimately is up to the federal and provincial governments,” he said.

City Coun. Cindy Gilroy raised a motion Thursday to have the city ask the federal and provincial governments to fund the Prairie Green search.

“Searching the Prairie Green Landfill would send a clear message that governments will do what they can to bring justice to these victims and their families,” the motion stated. It didn’t pass and was referred to the next executive policy committee meeting in September.

“It’s disappointing we couldn’t debate it today,” said Gilroy, who represents the Daniel McIntyre ward. “Right now, it’s what everyone’s concerned about,” she told reporters.

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Gillingham wouldn’t say if he supports the Prairie Green landfill search but that he supports the families getting a straight answer from a united federal and provincial government.

“At the end of the day, the families are left in the middle of this without a clear decision and they need clarity,” the mayor said. So does the city. Because of the blockade at its landfill, garbage trucks have had to use an inferior back road that is prone to washouts to access the main dump.

“The operations of Brady landfill need to continue,” he said. “We have to make sure they can continue without interruption… It really does become an environmental issue if we can’t access Brady Road,” said Gillingham.

— With files from Joyanne Pursaga

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.

Every piece of reporting Carol 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.