Maintaining the pressure

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This article was published 30/07/2023 (812 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Families of missing and murdered Indigenous women led a rally Sunday to issue fresh calls for governments to work together and support searches of Winnipeg-area landfills for human remains.

Indigenous leaders and loved ones of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Tanya Nepinak requested that new federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree arrange a meeting with them and provincial officials.

The Manitoba government has refused to support a search, while Ottawa has not yet made a decision on a request for funding.

“If they so claim to care about reconciliation, then they will search the landfill,” Harris’s daughter, Cambria Harris, told reporters before the rally. “If not, then reconciliation is dead.”

Dozens of people attended the evening event at Oodena Circle at The Forks.

Merrick said all Manitobans should back the calls for searches.

“It’s not just an Indigenous issue. It could affect anybody,” she said.

Organizers described it as a “grave injustice” that governments have given millions to support the 2023 World Police and Fire Games, which are currently being held in Winnipeg, but have not committed to searching landfills.

“I urge her to pay close attention to the following words, and understand that today, as they have brought the world to Winnipeg, we as First Nations will demonstrate to the world how this province treats its original people,” Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said of Premier Heather Stefanson.

“It is a disgrace to know that all these people from around the world are coming here not knowing what is happening,” said Cambria Harris.

After speeches, rally participants marched a short distance to the CN Stage, where a concert was being held for World Police and Fire Games athletes.

The crowd chanted “bring them home” and “search the landfill” at the entrance to the gated venue.

The Winnipeg Police Service believes the remains of Morgan Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, were deposited in the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, located in the RM of Rosser just north of the capital, in May 2022.

Police believe Harris, Myran and two other Indigenous women — Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified victim temporarily named Buffalo Woman — were slain by an alleged serial killer.

Partial remains belonging to Contois were found in the city-run Brady Road landfill. Buffalo Woman’s remains have not been found.

Jeremy Skibicki, 36, is facing four counts of first-degree murder.

A feasibility study by an Indigenous-led committee found it could take one to three years and cost between $84 million and $184 million to search the landfill.

Earlier this month, Stefanson said her government would not put workers at risk when there is no guarantee of recovering remains.

Committee members said “considerable” risks, such as exposure to asbestos and toxic chemicals, can be mitigated, and there is a good chance of discovering remains.

Nepinak, 31, has been missing since 2011. Her remains were not found during a six-day search of the Brady Road landfill by police in 2012.

A second-degree murder charge against Shawn Lamb was stayed. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the deaths of Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching