A group of First Nations demonstrators has shut down Winnipeg’s main landfill site.
They are camping outside the entrance of the Brady Road landfill to force a search of the property for more victims of a suspected serial killer.
“We promised them that if they did not shut it down, we would, and we are people of our word,” said Taylor Orpin, a member of First Nations Indigenous Warriors.
A handful of the demonstrators feel staying at the main road makes more sense than driving out every day to block the entranceway.
Orpin said the group has received donations of propane, firewood, food and water.
Search is complete
“…Setting up a camp and making a home here, making a stand here, making it clear that we are not going anywhere until dumping ceases, until the search is complete, until our sisters are brought home, was such a clear choice to us,” Orpin told APTN News.
It’s unclear how long the group will remain at the site south of Winnipeg where temperatures hovered around the -25C mark Monday night.
Demonstrators, advocates and affected family members want city police to do a second search of the dump for more remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in the wake of the arrest of Jeremy Skibicki, 35.
Police charged Skibicki in November with four counts of first-degree murder. He is accused of killing three First Nations women – Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcades Myran – and an unidentified woman believed to be Indigenous.
Skibicki has said he is not guilty.
Police allege the crimes occurred between March and May of 2022.
Brady landfill
Police said they located some of Contois’ remains in the Brady landfill, and they believe the bodies of Harris, Myran and the unidentified victim are in a private landfill north of Winnipeg called Prairie Green.
But they say Prairie Green, which has temporarily ceased its operations, is unsearchable.
Now the Manitoba and federal governments say they will fund a study looking into the feasibility of searching both landfills.
