Police HQ vandalized after landfill-search supporter charged By: Chris Kitching Posted: 1:11 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 26, 2023 Last Modified: 7:33 PM CDT Wednesday, Jul. 26, 2023 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/07/2023 (1152 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service closed its downtown headquarters to the public Wednesday, after windows were vandalized by people protesting the arrest of an Indigenous man who has helped lead the calls for landfill searches.

The arrest of 27-year-old Tre Lennox DeLaronde has highlighted the tension between MMIWG activists and a private security company that was hired by the City of Winnipeg to keep watch on protesters set up near the Brady Road landfill.

He is accused of threatening Impact Security guards on two occasions, and damaging a guard’s vehicle.

“This is a call for calm and respectful behaviour,” police Chief Danny Smyth wrote in an online Substack post. “The Winnipeg police are doing their best to balance the right to protest peacefully, but there is very little tolerance for those that act unlawfully or aggressively. Those that do will be held accountable.”

Protesters painted messages — some containing a derogatory term for police officers — and left red handprints on windows, the inner vestibule and other surfaces at the WPS headquarters, while about two dozen people demanded DeLaronde’s release late Tuesday night.

Phrases such as “Time to dig pig” and “Just dig pig” related to the demands for Winnipeg-area landfills to be searched for missing and slain Indigenous women.

Another message said, “This blood is on WPS hands.”

The headquarters was closed to the public at the time. The protest ended after DeLaronde was released from custody at about 1 a.m. Wednesday.

The headquarters at Smith Street and Graham Avenue did not open as scheduled at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Forensic officers analyzed the graffiti, while the front of the building was taped off throughout the morning. The major crimes unit is investigating.

Smyth said protesters “besieged” the headquarters. He said multiple officers were required to “de-escalate and calm the situation.”

Police arrested DeLaronde while he was leaving Camp Marcedes, located next to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, at about 7 p.m. Tuesday.

The camp was set up earlier in July to pay tribute to Marcedes Myran, one of four Indigenous women city police believe were slain by an alleged serial killer in 2022.

It was erected after a blockade was removed at the Brady landfill days after a court imposed an injunction on it.

Security guards have been posted outside the landfill since a camp was set up by the family of Morgan Harris — one of the four alleged victims — in mid-December.

DeLaronde has been supporting Camp Morgan as a member of First Nation Indigenous Warriors, a community protection group.

Police accuse DeLaronde of threatening to harm a security guard and referenced access to guns during a confrontation outside the landfill on April 6.

The WPS said the guard feared for his safety, left and contacted police.

On Sunday, DeLaronde allegedly confronted a different guard in a work truck. He is accused of jumping on the hood and making threats to harm the guard.

Rocks were allegedly thrown at the vehicle, causing damage.

Police said the guard “escaped” unharmed and reported the incident.

DeLaronde disputed the allegations.

“They overkilled it, they exaggerated it,” he said. “Impact gave a false statement. There was no threat of causing bodily harm.”

“They overkilled it, they exaggerated it… Impact gave a false statement. There was no threat of causing bodily harm.”–Tre DeLaronde

He told the Free Press a confrontation occurred Sunday when camp members approached a guard’s car to complain that it was parked too close to the site on Ethan Boyer Way.

DeLaronde said earlier requests from camp members, who felt intimidated and harassed, were ignored by guards.

A live video stream recorded by DeLaronde showed people telling officers about an allegation against a guard. Police did not say Wednesday if the allegation was investigated.

Impact Security owner Ron D’Errico denied any wrongdoing by his guards.

He described the relationship between his staff and camp members as “a little tense right now.”

“I really empathize with the situation,” he said, referring to the families calling for landfill searches. “It’s a tragedy all around.”

In his Substack post, Smyth accused DeLaronde of acting aggressively or “militant,” and pushing boundaries, resulting in multiple cautions from officers visiting the camp.

DeLaronde was charged with two counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and one count of mischief under $5,000.

He was also charged with possessing body armour without a valid permit when he was arrested Tuesday.

Officers seized the armoured vest and camouflage clothing that is part of his FNIW uniform. Police described the clothing as “military-style fatigues.”

Smyth cited two previous incidents where protesters “swarmed” properties. One incident was at police headquarters and the other was at the home of a man who had dumped mulch on a red dress mural on the road at the blockade at Brady landfill.

The chief blamed social media users for inciting the protests.

Police believe the remains of Myran, 26, and Harris, 39, were deposited in the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, located in the RM of Rosser just north of Winnipeg.

Investigators allege Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified victim, who was temporarily named Buffalo Woman by elders, were also killed by the same man.

Jeremy Skibicki, 36, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder. His trial is scheduled for 2024.

An Indigenous-led committee studied the feasibility of searching Prairie Green, after Winnipeg police decided not to conduct a search as part of the murder investigation. The WPS said it was “infeasible.”

The Manitoba government said this month it won’t support a search, citing health and safety concerns for workers. it said the federal government would have to take the lead. Ottawa has not yet said if it will provide funding for the proposed effort.

The study found it could take years, and as much as $184 million to search the tonnes of garbage at the dump, where risks include exposure to asbestos and toxic chemicals.

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.