$40M promised for landfill search of slaying victims By: Chris Kitching Posted: 3:36 PM CDT Friday, Mar. 22, 2024 Last Modified: 9:28 AM CDT Saturday, Mar. 23, 2024 Updates

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The federal and Manitoba governments are putting up $40 million to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women who police believe were slain by a serial killer.

At a meeting Friday, Premier Wab Kinew assured Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran’s families “every cubic metre” will be searched in the cell, or section, where the women are believed to be located.

“Today, and every day moving forward, will be very, very tough,” Harris’ daughter, Cambria Harris, said after the meeting in downtown Winnipeg. “I am grateful there is a commitment being made. It’s been a long road.

“It is a step forward for Indigenous Peoples, and it’s about taking back that narrative from those who stole it from us. It’s going to be survivor- and family-led going forward.”

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said there is no timeline yet as to when the search could begin, but she hopes it will not take long to find the women’s remains.

“Today is a very bittersweet day. It’s a sense of relief, but yet work needs to be done,” she said.

Manitoba and Ottawa have earmarked $20 million each to search Prairie Green Landfill, a private operation just north of Winnipeg, plus a combined $700,000 for mental health supports to those affected.

“Our commitment to search the landfill has been unrelenting,” Kinew said in a statement. “Now, we’re glad to be able to move forward with the funds necessary to search every cubic metre of the relevant space.

“While we don’t know if the search will be successful, we have to try. That’s our commitment to these families.”

The $40-million pledge is significantly less than estimates provided in feasibility and operational studies, which were conducted by an AMC-led committee with more than $1 million in federal funding.

The latest study, completed in January, said a search could cost up to $90 million if completed within a year.

“It’s a start,” Merrick said of the $40 million. “It’s very important that this process starts and keeps continuing.”

Winnipeg police believe the remains of Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, were deposited in Prairie Green in May 2022.

Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in their deaths and those of two other Indigenous women — Rebecca Contois, 24, and unidentified victim named Buffalo Woman (Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe) by elders.

Contois’ remains were found in a North Kildonan garbage bin in May 2022 and, weeks later, in the Brady Road landfill, south of the city, during a search by police. Buffalo Woman’s remains have not been found.

Skibicki’s weeks-long trial is scheduled to begin in April.

“I pray that one day we will see justice,” said Cambria Harris.

The funding commitment has given her “a bit of hope.”

“It’s about showing that our Indigenous women, our Indigenous people that we’re worth it, we’re valued, we’re loved and we are more than worth searching for,” she said.

As for the search committee, its forensic experts will be consulted to better understand what the funding allows for, in terms of hiring and training workers, and acquiring equipment or facilities, Merrick said.

Preparatory work could take place while the trial is underway.

Merrick said the Harris and Myran families, who’ve been pleading for a search since they were informed of the deaths in December 2022, do not want to be forced to go back and ask the governments for more money.

“We want to see this work be completed,” she said. “We want to ensure that we find the loved ones that have been there (since May 2022) and that we be able to — hopefully, God willing — that we be able to find them and be able to bring them home.”

Merrick said other families whose loved ones were found in landfills in Canada were not forced to plead for searches or carry out feasibility studies.

“A lot of money has been spent to convince governments to do the right thing,” she said, referring to the committee’s two studies.

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham also attended Friday’s meeting.

Only Cambria Harris and Merrick held a news conference afterward.

“We remain committed as we work with all partners towards an approach that will bring closure and healing for the families and community members,” Crown-Indigenous Relations spokesman Matthieu Perrotin wrote in an email.

Merrick noted the city had offered to help find land, if needed, to accommodate a facility where excavated material would be examined.

Last year, the committee’s first report suggested the women’s remains are in an area that measures 200 by 100 metres, with a maximum waste depth of 10 metres. It said up to 61,000 tonnes of material would be excavated.

The report said the preferred option is to use machinery to excavate and transport truckloads of material to a custom-built structure.

Workers would sort through material by hand as it moves along a conveyor belt.

The committee said health risks or hazards, including asbestos, can be mitigated at the site, which is owned by Waste Connections of Canada.

Cambria Harris said the families have been through a long, emotional fight — with a trial still ahead — after police and governments declined to conduct or lead a search.

Several rallies, marches and road blockades have been held to escalate calls for landfill searches and more supports amid a national crisis of missing and slain Indigenous women and girls.

The Harris and Myran families set up camps outside the Brady Road landfill and Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

Before being ousted in the October election, the former Progressive Conservative government refused to fund a search, saying it would not put workers at risk without a guarantee of finding remains.

Cambria Harris and family advocate Robyn Johnston have filed human rights complaints against the Tory party over election campaign ads that opposed a search, and the Manitoba government for “refusing” to make funds and resources available to search the Prairie Green and Brady Road landfills.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

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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