Landfill protest ends peacefully, demonstrators allow police, city staff to clear barricades By: Chris Kitching Posted: 11:33 AM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 18, 2023 Last Modified: 4:29 PM CDT Tuesday, Jul. 18, 2023 Updates

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A protest that blocked the main entrance to the Brady Road landfill for almost two weeks came to a peaceful end Tuesday, while demonstrators vowed further action to pressure governments to support searches for Indigenous victims of violence.

Protesters agreed to move aside and allow city staff to clear barricades, following a conversation between an organizer and one of two Winnipeg Police Service officers who visited the site shortly after 9 a.m.

“We just assured (police) we weren’t trying to engage or be confrontational because this is a peaceful protest, a peaceful place,” said demonstrator Melissa Morrisseau. “That’s not our thing, to be aggressive or confrontational. That’s not our objective, and it never was.”

About 10 people were present when police arrived. No one was arrested, said WPS Insp. Gord Spado.

“Any time we can resolve things in a peaceful manner and not have to go in with any show of force, we definitely prefer that method, and I was very happy with today’s outcome,” Spado told reporters.

Ethan Boyer Way reopened to the public at about 1:15 p.m. Protesters had blocked the road to the city-run landfill since July 6.

The action was in response to the Manitoba government’s decision a day earlier not to support a search of the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of slain Indigenous women Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

An interim injunction granted by Court of King’s Bench Justice Sheldon Lanchbery went into effect at 6 p.m. last Friday. It gave police the authority to enforce the order.

The City of Winnipeg cited environmental and safety concerns in its bid to force protesters to clear the roadway.

Mayor Scott Gillingham and chief administrative officer Michael Jack were glad to see a peaceful resolution.

“The aim was always to see the blockade conclude through dialogue, and to ultimately end up with a peaceful end to the blockade,” said Gillingham.

The mayor said he expects another court hearing to make the injunction permanent.

A large crowd was present when police visited the site twice Friday evening, shortly after the temporary injunction went into effect, to ask organizers if they would comply and move aside.

Protesters continued to block the road. Police decided to wait to enforce the order.

Spado, who oversees the WPS response to protests, said phone conversations had continued since then.

“It was just a measured approach. We had units here on Friday, and emotions were high,” he said. “(We) wanted to give it an opportunity to settle down a little bit, and we came today to have a conversation.”

A camp established by Harris’s relatives and their supporters last December is allowed to remain next to the landfill. It is known as Camp Morgan.

As the barricades were dismantled, advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls discussed plans for a second camp, which will be located outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at The Forks.

It will be called Camp Marcedes.

CMHR spokesman Rorie McLeod said staff and a Harris family member met Monday to look at possible locations and discuss how the museum can support the camp.

Protesters said they would continue to demand Premier Heather Stefanson reverse her refusal to support a search of Prairie Green, located just north of Winnipeg in the RM of Rosser.

Stefanson had said she would not risk the health and safety of searchers at a landfill that holds toxic material, when there is no guarantee of finding the women’s remains.

The federal government has not yet said if it will provide funding. The city said it doesn’t have the financial resources, nor the jurisdiction, to search a landfill outside Winnipeg.

Protester Harrison Powder said activists were prepared to block highways or rail lines to pressure governments.

“We’ve got to go above (Stefanson), but that means we need to step up the action,” he said.

Morrisseau said it’s fitting the second camp will be located at the CMHR.

“This is a human rights issue — the goings on of Canada and how it treats Indigenous people,” she said. “I want to emphasize this is not just a Winnipeg problem. It’s happening across Canada and the U.S.

“It has to stop. Search the landfill for our women, our people.”

“It has to stop. Search the landfill for our women, our people.”–Melissa Morrisseau

An Indigenous-led committee received federal funding to conduct a feasibility study of Prairie Green, after the WPS declined to do a search and governments refused to take the lead.

On Monday, forensic specialists who led a technical study said health and safety concerns can be mitigated to ensure a safe search of an isolated area where police believe Harris and Myran’s remains were deposited 34 days before officers became aware.

There is a good chance remains would be found, they said.

The Harris and Myran families said the potential timeline and cost — one to three years and $84 million to $184 million — should not prevent a search.

The WPS believes four Indigenous women — Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified victim temporarily named Buffalo Woman — were slain by an alleged serial killer in 2022.

Part of the Brady Road landfill was sealed off shortly after some of Contois’ remains were found in a North Kildonan garbage bin.

Police recovered additional remains during a search.

Buffalo Woman’s remains are missing.

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.

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