AFN grand chief calls for inquiry into decision to not search landfill

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This article was published 27/03/2025 (190 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada’s top First Nations leader is calling for an independent inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service and former provincial Tory government’s decisions not to search a Manitoba landfill for the remains of two slain Indigenous women.

Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak questioned why there was “pushback” from the WPS in 2022, and resistance from the Progressive Conservatives, under then-premier Heather Stefanson, in 2023.

“We need to look at that as a society. All of us have to look at that and ask why? Why did it take so long (to search)?” Woodhouse Nepinak said in Winnipeg on Thursday. “Why did there have to be such a push? We call for an inquiry into that.”

She spoke at a news conference in Winnipeg, where Albert and Theresa Shingoose, the parents of Ashlee Shingoose, pleaded for a search for her remains at the Brady Road landfill to begin as soon as possible.

Police identified Shingoose, 30, this week as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, one of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in 2022. Investigators learned her identity and the location of her remains after a second interview with Skibicki and additional DNA testing.

Woodhouse Nepinak said the AFN passed a resolution in 2024 from Cathy Merrick, who was the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs’ grand chief when she died last year, to call for an inquiry into the deaths of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and the woman now known as Shingoose, with a specific focus on the WPS and Stefanson government.

“All of us have to look at that and ask why? Why did it take so long (to search)? … Why did there have to be such a push?”–Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak

Manitoba Moon Voices Inc., a non-profit organization that supports Indigenous women and gender diverse people, also called for a “full, transparent and independent inquiry into the failures of law enforcement and government in responding to MMIWG2S+ cases, particularly the refusal to search landfills.”

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, a longtime MMIWG2S+ advocate, said there will be a time for those questions to be considered, but the current focus should be the Shingoose family and Brady Road search.

She said Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe and efforts to identify her were on the minds of everyone in the Indigenous community for the last two-plus years.

“She’s everybody’s loved one,” Fontaine said.

In 2022, then-police chief Danny Smyth said the WPS would not search the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, just north of Winnipeg, for Harris and Myran’s remains, following an internal study that found a successful search and recovery was not feasible.

The WPS cited safety concerns, the passage of time (34 days) before investigators learned the women’s remains were deposited at the site, and the large volume of material that was dumped and compacted over that period.

WPS Chief Gene Bowers said he wants to speak to the affected families before commenting on whether the WPS will make a public apology.

In 2023, Stefanson said her government would not support a search due to safety hazards and there being no guarantee of success.

She cited the findings of an Indigenous-led committee’s feasibility report, which concluded a search was feasible but would come with risks, which could be mitigated, and a chance of success, but no guarantees.

Now in Opposition, the PCs apologized this month for refusing to support the search and running election campaign ads that touted the decision.

The committee’s work laid the groundwork for a search that began last year with $40 million from the provincial NDP and federal Liberal governments.

Excavation of a targeted zone began Dec. 2. Remains belonging to Harris and Myran were found in February. The search continues.

When Shingoose was publicly confirmed to be Buffalo Woman at a news conference Wednesday, Bowers said the service has reviewed its landfill search policy since the 2022 decision regarding Prairie Green.

The intention now “is always we need to try to search,” depending on circumstances, said Bowers, who signalled a willingness to look to outside experts for help.

“We recognize the calls for an inquiry and understand the sensitivities surrounding this issue,” a WPS spokeswoman wrote in an email Thursday. “Over the past three years, we have reflected, learned, and are committed to building stronger relationships with Indigenous communities. At this time, it would be premature to comment further.”

Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett, said she hasn’t considered the calls for an inquiry because her focus has been elsewhere.

She cried when police revealed the identity of Buffalo Woman, a name given to the then-unidentified woman by Indigenous community members.

She wishes it brings hope to MMIWG2S+ families that are still searching for loved ones or seeking justice.

Bartlett is pleased multiple levels of government and the WPS agreed to support a search at the Brady landfill.

“They won’t have to fight for that,” she said of Shingoose’s family.

The Myran and Harris families helped lead efforts to search Prairie Green.

“It was a long battle. It was difficult — very draining, very emotional,” Bartlett said. “It ages you a little bit because it was an everyday thing. It was always on our minds.”

Brandon Trask, an assistant professor of law at the University of Manitoba, said any decision about an inquiry should pay significant sensitivity and attention to the desires of the families and Indigenous community members.

“As a legal scholar, I am very concerned about how issues pertaining to the investigation, including the landfill search, ended up being so politicized,” he said.

Fontaine said the identification of Shingoose as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or any type of news involving MMIWG2S+, elicits raw emotion and a spectrum of emotion, such as relief or anger.

At Wednesday’s news conference, Premier Wab Kinew delivered a speech intended to help advance reconciliation. He sang a traditional song to honour Shingoose, at her father’s request.

“It is a testament to the resiliency and generosity and love of Indigenous people, and the strength of Indigenous people,” Fontaine said. “The folks that are now charged with the sacred responsibility of government, in many respects, we weren’t supposed to be here ourselves, and yet we are here, and because we’re here look at what we’re able to do.”

“Manitoba is doing something incredibly transformative and incredibly unique, and we are a beacon, and really, a path forward for everyone else.”–Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine

Fontaine said the province is working on MMIWG2S+-related initiatives, with details to eventually be shared, that have not been done in Canada.

“Manitoba is doing something incredibly transformative and incredibly unique, and we are a beacon, and really, a path forward for everyone else,” she said.

Commitments to search Prairie Green and Brady Road landfills come at a moment where the future of reconciliation is unclear, said Sean Carleton, an associate professor in the U of M’s departments of history and Indigenous studies.

Manitoba has an opportunity to be a leader for reconciliation and the protection of Indigenous Peoples, he noted.

“I hope, if there’s a positive coming out of this, it can create the momentum behind other actions that are needed to not just give justice to these women in death, but to prevent additional deaths and abuses from happening,” Carleton said.

— with files from Tyler Searle

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca