The family of Marcedes Myran speaks in Winnipeg on Thursday. Photo: Jared Delorme/APTN.
This story contains distressing details. Please read with care.
The search for the remains of up to three Indigenous women in a landfill outside Winnipeg could begin in six weeks, says the grandmother of homicide victim Marcedes Myran.
“End of July, beginning of August,” Bartlett told reporters at a news conference Thursday. “I’m really thankful to Premier (Wab) Kinew. He has started the process for the landfill search.”
Bartlet, spokesperson and matriarch of the Myran family, said she is anxious about the search yet confident some of her grandaughter’s remains will be recovered.
“They will keep searching until they find something.”
Myran’s remains, along with those of Morgan Harris, are believed to be in the Prairie Green landfill, a sprawling facility just north of Winnipeg owned by Waste Connections of Canada. The women were victims of self-confessed serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.
Not criminally responsible
Skibicki has pleaded not criminally responsible for killing, defiling and disposing of the victims in city garbage bins. The remains were collected by either city or Prairie Green trucks and dumped in two landfills.
The trial wrapped up Monday with the judge scheduled to deliver a verdict on July 11.
The partial remains of victim Rebecca Contois, 24, were recovered in the city’s Brady Road landfill while police say the remains of Myran, Harris, 39, and a fourth unidentified victim known as Buffalo Woman are in Prairie Green.
Bartlett said her family visited the landfill with the premier and other government officials on Tuesday.
“Our family is elated that the process has started. We will be able to bring Marcedes … and the other women … home.
“And when we do get to bring her home, I’ll be able to tell her children, ‘We’re going to have Marcedes at home and in her resting place.’”
Mother of two
Myran was the mother of son Titan, 10, and daughter Mackenzie, 9.
Bartlett said the government has established an advisory committee comprised of victims’ families and representatives from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and Long Plain First Nationt, located west of Winnipeg where Myran was from.
Bartlett spoke to reporters at the former site of Camp Marcedes, where a sacred fire was lit and supporters honoured Myran, 26, and lobbied for a landfill search.
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The camp on the grounds of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights was dismantled during the trial because Bartlett said it was too difficult to keep it going. The Harris family continues to maintain Camp Morgan outside the Brady landfill.
“I’m grateful for all the people that helped – AMC, Long Plain, various organizations – and all the people from around the world, students that came by (and) visited the camp. They all helped us.”
Bartlet said she has been battling cancer while dealing with the stresses of the trial and now the search.
“It was hurtful and hard to go there every day,” she said. “The trial took a lot out of me, but now we’re going to get to bring my girl home.”
“I’m so happy about that.”
The provincial and federal governments have each committed $20 million to fund the search.
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.
