The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is urging Manitoba’s lieutenant-governor to establish an independent inquiry into the killings of four Indigenous women in the province.
Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says she had a productive meeting with Lt.-Gov. Anita Neville Wednesday in Winnipeg.
The meeting comes days after the AFN passed a resolution seeking an inquiry to assess the police investigation and provincial response to the killings.
Jeremy Skibicki was found guilty of first-degree murder last week in the deaths of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman the Indigenous community refers to as Mashkode Bizhiki Ikwe or Buffalo Woman.
Woodhouse Nepinak says the meeting was just the beginning of a process that will also include a conversation with the provincial premier.
Provincial probe
She says she is hoping a provincial probe can reignite a national conversation about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls — and pressure governments to act on unmet recommendations from a 2019 national inquiry.
But Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Harris, said she was unaware of the meeting Wednesday morning.
“I was a little taken back that we weren’t informed that it was happening,” she told APTN News. “Everything that we have done has always been family-led, family-first.”
“(The) Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has always ensured that everything is run through us before it goes out, so it was a bit of a shocker as I was drinking my coffee,” Robinson added. “So I immediately messaged and said, ‘What’s the scoop on this?'”
She said she was reassured it was simply Woodhouse Nepinak presenting the resolution and not a formal meeting.
Robinson and other family members were at the Prairie Green Landfill Wednesday to see the delivery of a healing lodge built by the province.
The lodge will be a space for the Harris and Myran families to gather, hold Indigenous ceremonies and rest during the landfill search for the remains of Harris and Myran, which is scheduled to begin in the fall.
“It’s going to be a space for our family to come together and watch the work happening,” said Robinson. “… Because each day, we know, is going to be different; one day it could be really good, the next, we could be hit with a lot of sadness.”
The families heard convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki admit in court he disposed of the remains of Harris and Myran in a dumpster behind a business near his home in May 2022. Two weeks later, the remains were picked up and dumped at Prairie Green, a commercial landfill just north of Winnipeg, court also heard.
-With files by Tiar Wheatle
