Stefanson decision on landfill search ‘indefensible’: Amnesty International Canada

By: Free Press staff Posted: 12:21 PM CDT Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023

Amnesty International Canada has joined calls to search two Winnipeg-area landfills for the remains of three Indigenous women.

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Amnesty International Canada has joined calls to search two Winnipeg-area landfills for the remains of three Indigenous women.

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Amnesty International Canada has joined calls to search two Winnipeg-area landfills for the remains of three Indigenous women.

The Canadian branch has joined other organizations who for weeks have been calling for the provincial and federal governments to search both the Brady Road and Prairie Green landfills for the remains of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and an unidentified woman elders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman).

All three women are believed to be the victims of an accused serial killer, were slain in the spring or summer of 2022 and are possibly buried under trash in the landfills. Partial remains of Rebecca Contois, a fourth woman suspected to be a victim of the same accused killer, were found in an East Kildonan trash bin and, later, at the Brady Road facility.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
People attended a Search The Landfill rally at the Forks in Winnipeg earlier in July calling for the provincial and federal governments to search both the Brady Road and Prairie Green landfills for missing murder victims. — JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES

People attended a Search The Landfill rally at the Forks in Winnipeg earlier in July calling for the provincial and federal governments to search both the Brady Road and Prairie Green landfills for missing murder victims.

The federal government has indicated a willingness to help in search efforts, but Premier Heather Stefanson has said the province won’t participate. She has cited the risk to searchers from hazardous materials and how a search might affect the trial — scheduled to begin in April — of Jeremy Skibicki, the Winnipeg man charged with first-degree murder in the four women’s deaths.

Progressive Conservative Environment and Climate Minister Kevin Klein added fuel to the provincial election fire in a campaign newsletter Thursday by focusing on the estimated cost, calling out the NDP and Liberals for their “unachievable promises,” having pledged “nearly $200 million to search the landfill.”

Amnesty International Canada took aim at the province’s decision.

”Premier Stefanson’s refusal to search the landfills is indefensible and sends the appalling message that the lives of Indigenous women, girls, Two Spirit and gender-diverse people are not valued in Canada,” Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of the English-speaking section of Amnesty International Canada, said.

“The government of Canada and the government of Manitoba must prioritize and adequately fund a search of the landfills to return Marcedes, Morgan and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe to their loved ones without further delay.”

The other organizations calling for the search include the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Assembly of First Nations, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations and Families of Sisters in Spirit.