It was just over a year ago when family and friends of Morgan Harris gathered in Winnipeg after an alleged serial killer was charged in her death.
“My mother Morgan, she’s my waking thought every single day when I wake up, before I go to bed,” says Harris’ daughter Cambria Harris.
A year ago, police also announced the deaths of Marcedes Myran and an unidentified woman people call Buffalo Woman.
Officials believe their bodies are buried in a private landfill just north of the city.
The remains of Rebecca Contois were discovered in a city-run landfill.
Harris and Myran were from Long Plain First Nation north of Winnipeg.
The thought that their final resting place might be a dump sent ripples through the First Nations community. Cambria Harris became the face of a movement to have the landfill searched.
At the time, a Conservative government refused to search saying exposure to different chemicals and products would be too dangerous for searchers. The party even campaigned on a promise to not search the landfill site in the last election – an election they lost.
“This last year has been probably the hardest year that I have ever had to face in my life,” Cambria Harris told vigil attendees “It was one year ago that mine and my family’s life have changed forever and it’s not changed in a good way.”
The federal government has provided money for a feasibility study since the election.
And in October, newly elected premier, Wab Kinew, met with families to discuss a search. The details of that meeting have not been made public.
Harris’ cousin Melissa Robinson says the family just wants closure.
“Here we are exactly one year later at the exact same time, still mourning her,” Robinson says. “Still just as sad as we were one year ago. And why is that? Because we haven’t been able to lay her to rest.”
