Stefanson’s opposition to landfill search not ‘necessarily based in fact,’ expert says Process can be conducted safely ‘with good possibility of success,’ news conference told
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/07/2023 (1131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Specialists insisted Monday a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women can be done safely “with a good possibility of success,” contradicting Premier Heather Stefanson’s reasons for rejecting demands to locate the victims of a suspected serial killer.
The experts said health and safety risks can be mitigated during a search for Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran at the privately-owned Prairie Green Landfill, just north of the city in the RM of Rosser.
“Our collective opinion is that this search can be done,” Sean Sparling, CEO of Investigative Solutions Network Maskwa, a private firm based in Ontario, told a Winnipeg news conference via video link.
“It can be done safely, with no more risk than (to) workers that are out there today doing the very same type of work. It has a good possibility for success. We’ve done it in the past, and it worked.”
Earlier this month, Stefanson told the Harris and Myran families her government would not risk the health and safety of workers when there is no guarantee of success.
Working with an Indigenous-led committee, the specialists previously found it is feasible to search the facility and reduce the health and safety concerns.
Landfill search feasability study
“Any argument that would oppose those findings, in our opinion, (isn’t) necessarily based in fact,” Kris Dueck, CEO of Alberta-based Rocky Mountain Forensic Consulting and co-chair of a technical subcommittee that studied the landfill, said via video.
Committee members said the province did not raise any concerns while providing input during the study phase on how to conduct a safe search.
The panel included experts who worked on successful searches for homicide victims at a landfill in Michigan and serial killer Robert Pickton’s pig farm in B.C.
Methods and management processes from those efforts can be used to search an area of interest at Prairie Green, said Dueck and Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which oversaw the feasibility study.
Merrick pressed all levels of government to work together — rather than trying to shift responsibility — and support a search.
She urged Stefanson to reconsider and meet with the experts.
“They have done this before with success in a very similar situation,” said Merrick.
However, it appeared Stefanson would not reconsider, nor would she agree to a meeting.
“There is no guarantee of finding remains, and immediate and long-term health and safety risks are real and cannot be ignored,” her spokesman said.
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Protesters stand their ground outside Brady Road landfill
The federal government has not yet announced if it will provide funding or other support. The City of Winnipeg has said it does not have the financial resources, but it could help in other ways.
The Harris and Myran families have said the potential timeline and cost — up to three years and as much as $184 million — should not stand in the way.
Brandon University forensic anthropologist Emily Holland, who worked on the Pickton case, said a conveyor-belt system would bring the highest probability of finding the women’s remains.
Material would be excavated using machinery and moved to the belt system, where workers would examine it by hand, said Holland, a co-chair of the technical subcommittee.
All staff would wear safety equipment from head to toe.
There is a “high degree of confidence” the women’s remains are in the area of interest, Holland told reporters, adding landfill owner Waste Connections of Canada supports a search.
Sparling was an officer in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., when that city’s police service found a homicide victim’s dismembered remains at a landfill just over the border about a decade ago.
In that case, there was “excellent” co-operation from local and provincial governments, he said.
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At Prairie Green, community members and other hired staff would be trained to do the work, said Sparling.
The committee’s report suggests the women’s remains are in an area measuring 200 by 100 metres, with a maximum waste depth of 10 metres.
It said up to 61,000 tonnes of material would be excavated.
Project adviser John Martella, who has worked in the waste management industry, said technology has improved since the search by Sault Ste. Marie police.
Landfills take steps to reduce risks posed by highly hazardous materials, such as asbestos, he said.
“We feel very, very comfortable that we’ll be able to landfill mine safely and mitigate any issues that might come about that could affect other humans that are actually in the process, the sorting process,” Martella said via video.
Harris and Myran’s relatives urged all levels of government to support a search.
“How could she say no?” Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett, said of the premier. “I know if it was her daughter or granddaughter, she would be out there looking, no questions asked.”
“I know if it was her daughter or granddaughter, she would be out there looking, no questions asked.”–Donna Bartlett
Last week, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said Stefanson’s “heartless” decision not to support a search would hinder Ottawa’s ability to make a decision this summer.
Stefanson accused Miller of taking an “irresponsible approach” and politicizing a tragedy.
A spokeswoman for Miller said Monday the federal government cannot do the work without the Manitoba government’s involvement.
Manitoba Environment Minister Kevin Klein said no one from Ottawa had reached out to his office — nor have any other parties — for information on the required approvals to conduct a search. He wouldn’t say what the province’s response would be.
Ottawa gave the committee $500,000 for the study of Prairie Green. The committee is hoping to conduct a similar study of the city-run Brady Road landfill.
The main road leading to the Brady site has been blocked by protesters, including Harris family members, since July 6 in response to the province’s decision.
Protesters on Monday displayed a Manitoba flag with “Heartless Heather” painted on it.
On Friday, Court of King’s Bench Justice Sheldon Lanchbery granted an interim injunction, following the city’s request for a court order to bring the demonstration to a halt.
The injunction had not been enforced as of Monday afternoon.
In a statement, the Winnipeg Police Service said it wants a peaceful resolution, while encouraging protesters to clear the road.
“We feel very, very comfortable that we’ll be able to landfill mine safely and mitigate any issues that might come about that could affect other humans that are actually in the process.”–John Martella
Harris’s cousin, Melissa Robinson, said protesters will set up a camp outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at The Forks.
The WPS believes four Indigenous women — Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified victim temporarily named Buffalo Woman by elders — were slain by alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in early 2022.
Skibicki is scheduled to stand trial on four counts of first-degree murder in April.
Some of Contois’ remains were found when police searched the Brady Road landfill.
Police decided not to search Prairie Green due, in part, to the volume of waste deposited over a 34-day period before they learned the remains of Harris and Myran are likely there.
No additional waste has been dumped in the area where the women’s remains are believed to be located.
Merrick said Buffalo Woman’s missing remains could be located in the same section.
A spokeswoman said the WPS had no update to provide on Buffalo Woman.
— with files from Danielle Da Silva
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Twitter: @chriskitching
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.
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