‘Very difficult decision’: premier insists landfill search too risky despite experts’ assurances By: Chris Kitching Posted: 3:04 PM CDT Friday, Jul. 21, 2023 Last Modified: 3:54 PM CDT Friday, Jul. 21, 2023 Updates

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HEADINGLEY — Manitoba’s premier wasn’t swayed when specialists insisted a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill can be done safely with a good chance of recovering the remains of two slain Indigenous women.

Heather Stefanson remained steadfast Friday on her government’s decision not to support a search of the Prairie Green Landfill for suspected serial-killer victims Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, following a feasibility study by an Indigenous-led committee.

“We’re very concerned about what was in the report in terms of the risks that were identified in the report — asbestos and other toxic chemicals, and so on,” she told reporters at an unrelated event in Headingley. “We made what was a very difficult decision.”

Stefanson wants to focus on protecting vulnerable people and preventing similar situations.

“To other high-risk individuals who are living in our communities, I want to make sure that we’ve got the proper programming in place to help those individuals through this, these difficult times, to ensure that this doesn’t happen to more families,” she said.

The premier responded for the first time to a Monday news conference held by the committee, which urged her to reconsider after she said she wouldn’t put searchers at risk when there is no guarantee human remains will be found.

The co-chairs of the federally funded technical study — forensic consultant Kris Dueck and forensic anthropologist Emily Holland — said a search is feasible, and health and safety risks cited by Stefanson can be mitigated with proper planning, training and use of equipment and protective gear.

Arguments against those findings aren’t necessarily based in fact, Dueck said Monday.

Holland said landfill owner Waste Connections of Canada is on board with a search.

The committee’s final report suggested some ways to reduce “considerable” risks, such as exposure to toxic chemicals and asbestos.

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Committee members said heavy machinery would be used to excavate material from a specific section where the women’s remains are believed to be located.

The material would be transported to conveyor belts, where workers would go through it by hand.

The report said there is no guarantee of a successful outcome, but there would be considerable distress to the Harris and Myran families if the landfill isn’t searched.

The families said the potential timeline of one to three years and estimated cost between $84 million and $184 million should not stand in the way.

They have called on all three levels of government to work together and with the committee to come up with a plan.

Ottawa wouldn’t say when it will give its decision on the committee’s request for funding.

A spokeswoman had said the federal government needs Manitoba’s co-operation because the province has jurisdiction over the landfill.

Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux (Winnipeg North), who appeared alongside Stefanson at the unrelated event, wouldn’t say if the federal government is willing to fund a search.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller’s office is reviewing the report.

Stefanson didn’t give any hints as to what her government will do if Ottawa agrees to support the proposed effort.

“I can’t control what they do, and we’ll see what comes of it then and deal with it then,” she said.

Lamoureux said there would be ongoing discussions between the governments.

Family members and Indigenous leaders were encouraged by a meeting with Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham on Thursday.

They said the mayor offered to find ways to help, including possibly providing a site where excavated waste could be searched.

The committee has asked Ottawa to fund a similar feasibility study for the city-run Brady Road landfill.

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

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

Stefanson declined to explain the basis for her concerns that a search could jeopardize the court case.

“I wouldn’t want to be commenting on something that is before the courts,” she said.

Members of the Harris family had said the province was concerned a search could result in a delay or an application to stay the proceedings.

Skibicki’s lawyer, Leonard Tailleur, is preparing for the trial, which is scheduled to last up to four weeks.

“I intend at this point to proceed to the trial as fixed, and my two colleagues, Brittney Hoyt and Alyssa Munce, on this case with me are fully preparing to that end,” Tailleur wrote in an email to the Free Press.

NDP MP Leah Gazan (Winnipeg Centre) pressed the federal government not to give up despite “inaction” from the province and said jurisdictional “barriers” should not stand in the way.

“Families should not have to plead for their deceased loved ones to be treated with dignity,” the NDP’s critic for women and gender equality said in a statement.

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.