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Manitoba Landfill Search for Murdered Women on Budget

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has announced that the ongoing search of a landfill for the remains of two murdered First Nations women is operating within budget, while efforts continue to identify a set of remains recently uncovered. The provincial government, alongside the federal government, allocated $20 million each to aid in searching the Winnipeg-area landfill for Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

The search commenced in early December, resulting in the discovery of two sets of remains, with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirming that one set belongs to 39-year-old Morgan Harris.

During discussions with the media, Premier Kinew refrained from disclosing specifics about the spending of the allocated funds but emphasized that the project is currently “way under budget,” attributing this to the early stage of the search operations at the Prairie Green landfill.

As investigations proceed, the premier assured that consultations with the victims’ families will occur to discuss the next steps after the identification process reaches completion. “Once we’ve had the identification process and time for the families to absorb the information, that’s what we want to discuss,” Kinew stated on Monday.

Search Operations and Remaining Challenges

The search effort is set to analyze approximately 20,000 cubic meters of refuse across an area comparable to four football fields. Although Kinew did not specify how much of the area had been processed when Harris’s remains were located, he indicated that further updates will be shared once the second set of remains is identified and following consultations with the families and the oversight committee for the search.

Last year, Jeremy Skibicki was found guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Harris, Myran, and two other Indigenous women. Testimonies from the trial revealed that Skibicki had preyed on the women in homeless shelters in Winnipeg before disposing of their bodies in dumpsters close to his residence. The remains of another victim, Rebecca Contois, have been found previously in a garbage bin and at a different landfill, while the remains of a woman referred to by Indigenous community members as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, remain missing.

Authorities believe that Myran’s remains also ended up at the Prairie Green landfill. Initially, there were concerns regarding the safety of conducting searches at the site, with previous government officials, including the Progressive Conservative administration, opting against support for a search during the lead-up to the 2023 provincial election.

Recently, the interim leader of the Tories offered an apology in the legislature to the families of Harris and Myran, acknowledging the prolonged struggle that families and Indigenous leaders have faced while advocating for the landfill search—a pursuit that has included lobbying efforts at both the Manitoba legislature and Parliament Hill.

Source
globalnews.ca