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Families of two slain First Nations women are a step closer to the answers the seek as the third stage of the search for the women’s remains gets underway.
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On Wednesday afternoon, Premier Wab Kinew joined Indigenous leaders, and family and friends of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran at the Prairie Green Landfill to announce that the search facility pad is nearing completion and excavators have begun moving materials above the targeted zone at the landfill. An engineering assessment of the targeted zone has also been completed. Meanwhile, recruitment for workers has been ongoing, with the job postings for technicians closing earlier in October.
Family members of both Harris and Myran have been fighting for a search of Prairie Green, a privately owned facility located north of Winnipeg, since December of 2022 when Winnipeg police (WPS) announced the arrest of Jeremy Skibicki for the murders of four First Nations women and said they believed the remains of Harris and Myran had been dumped in the landfill.
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Police said at the time they would not search the landfill for the women’s remains because they did not believe a search was “feasible” setting off outrage and leading to a long and sometimes dramatic fight to get the landfill searched.
Over the last two years protest encampments have been set up both at the Brady Road Landfill in Winnipeg and at The Forks to demand a search be given the green light, and on three separate occasions, protesters blocked access to the Brady Road Landfill, including last summer when a court-ordered injunction forced the removal of a barricade built by protesters and led to some tense moments when it was unsure if protesters would back off from the blockade, which they eventually did.
Last year, Manitoba’s PC government and Premier Heather Stefanson said the PCs would not support a landfill search, because of the safety hazards a report said a search would pose.
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The PCs then made not searching the landfill one of the pillars of their campaign and took out newspaper ads and billboards citing their decision to “stand firm” on a landfill search.
After winning the October 2023 election, Manitoba’s NDP government and the federal government pledged $20 million each to fund a search of the landfill and officials said last month they expected a search to get underway before the end of October.
The provincial and federal governments have also earmarked cash to provide mental health support for the families and loved ones of the women believed to be in the Prairie Green Landfill while the search takes place.
The women’s families and supporters have also commissioned two reports on the feasibility of a search since 2022, which was most recently estimated to cost $90 million if completed within a year. A second, more comprehensive report said a search could pose a health hazard because the landfill contains asbestos, and it laid out precautions, including having full protective gear with respirators for workers and keeping the area wet to prevent asbestos from getting into the air.
In June, Skibicki was convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris and Myran as well as for the killings of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were discovered at the Brady Road Landfill in 2022, and an unidentified woman that community members have been referring to as Buffalo Women.
Skibicki is serving four concurrent life sentences with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
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