Winnipeg police believe two First Nations women are buried in the Prairie Green Landfill located north of the city. Photo: Jesse Andrushko/APTN.
Warning: This story contains distressing details
Manitoba’s “humanitarian” mission to recover the remains of two of four First Nations women slain by a serial killer in Winnipeg is on schedule to start in October, says Premier Wab Kinew.
Kinew said he would tour the search preparation area at the Prairie Green Landfill, a facility owned by the Waste Management company north of Winnipeg, Friday.
The premier noted it was the next chapter in the 2022 case of four First Nations women murdered by Winnipeg man Jeremy Skibicki, who was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.
“After the verdict, I took the time to call each of the (victims’) families…,” said Kinew, “just to let them know they did an important service for the public to put on the permanent record just how awful these crimes were.”
Skibicki, 37, was convicted on four counts of first-degree murder for killing Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified victim known as Buffalo Woman.
Read more:
Midewiwin Lodge teaching at centre of name gifted to Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe
Skibicki discarded the remains of three women and possibly the fourth in garbage bins. Winnipeg police recovered the remains of Contois in the city-owned Brady Road landfill, but refused to continue the search for Harris and Myran in Prairie Green.
They say it is possible the remains of Buffalo Woman – Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwen in Anishinaabemowin – are also in Prairie Green.
“Earlier today I went for a run with the prime minister (who was in Winnipeg at an unrelated event) … I did provide a fairly detailed update (to Justin Trudeau) about the status of the landfill search,” Kinew told reporters Thursday.
“What I told him is that we have voices from each of the families helping us to run this oversight committee so that they can steer the project management. We’re working with (Indigenous) leadership, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, to give them a really concrete role in the operations of the search.”
The Manitoba and federal governments each contributed $20 million to fund the search.
- Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau snap a selfie after going for a run together in Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Park. Photo: X
Kinew, speaking at an unrelated news conference, said his government has begun the hiring process related to “staffing up the landfill search operations” in response to “the humanitarian cries for help” from the families.
In June, Kinew said the project was in Stage 2 as far as preparing the site and building temporary structures. The NDP government had secured permits from environmental regulators to search for human remains, he added.
Saw a flurry of activity during my visit to Prairie Green Landfill today. The construction of the search facility is well underway. pic.twitter.com/hGRdBzBaj3
— Wab Kinew (@WabKinew) August 30, 2024
The former Progressive Conservative government had refused to search, saying asbestos and other toxic materials at the landfill posed too great a health risk to searchers.
Support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
