Family members of two First Nations women whose remains are believed to be buried in landfills in the Winnipeg area have lodged a human rights complaint against the city, alleging it didn’t do enough to bring their loved ones home.
As the long-awaited search is expected to ramp up recovery efforts later this month, the complaint says the city’s initial refusal to search amounts to discrimination.
The claim says the city “systemically discriminates” against Indigenous women, girls, 2SLGBTQQIA+ people and their families based on their “ancestry, gender identity, sexual orientation and sex without bona fide and reasonable cause.”
Recovery efforts are set to gear up later this month at the Prairie Green landfill for the bodies of slain women. (John Woods/The Canadian Press files)
The city’s decision not to search the landfills reflects a historic unwillingness to investigate the deaths of Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ people, as per the claim, which refers to findings from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
“This practice sends a clear message to families and survivors that governments and policing institutions are indifferent to such violence,” the claim said.
City police and the former Tory government said a landfill search was not feasible, with the latter campaigning on that message last fall, including with election ads suggesting they would “stand firm” against the search.
A City of Winnipeg spokesperson said Sunday they’re aware of the complaint but would have no additional comment on the matter at this time.
Earlier this year, a separate human rights complaint was made against the Progressive Conservatives over their ad campaign.
Three complainants, all family members of homicide victims, brought the claim against the city. They include Sue Caribou, the aunt of Tanya Nepinak, who went missing in 2011. Police believe Nepinak was a victim of homicide but she has never been found.
Police searched for Nepinak’s body at the Brady Road landfill but called off the search after a few days, finding no evidence.
The complaint, which was shared with the Free Press, alleges the city didn’t do enough to search for Nepinak, who police believed was killed by convicted murderer Shawn Lamb.
“The juxtaposition now that the provincial government has agreed to search the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris continues to retraumatize the family of Tanya Nepinak as she is still missing despite the police suspecting where her body is and putting futile resources into locating here,” the claim said.
The claim also refers to the remains of a still unidentified woman, whom the community has named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
“The community suffers for Buffalo Woman. To now learn the Prairie Green Landfill is being searched and no formal consideration for Buffalo Woman and Tanya Nepinak sends a clear message that the decision to search is based on public scrutiny rather than what is ethical, equitable, just and abiding to The Human Rights Code.”
Lamb pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the cases of Carolyn Sinclair, 25, and Lorna Blacksmith, 18, in 2013 but denied killing Caribou’s niece.
The charges against Lamb in connection with Nepinak’s death were stayed.
Morgan Harris’s remains, along with those of Marcedes Myran, are believed to be in the Prairie Green Landfill northwest of the city. Harris’s family declined to comment on the complaint on Sunday. Cambria Harris, daughter of Morgan, filed a complaint against the Tories in January.
Skibicki admitted to killing Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois, and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe.
In July, 35-year-old Skibicki was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and is serving a life sentence.
Preliminary work on the search at the Prairie Green site began in October, and recovery efforts are slated to ramp up this month, two years after Winnipeg police announced they wouldn’t comb the landfill.
Skibicki said he put the remains of Harris and Myran in a garbage bin, which city police later traced to a two-hectare section at the Prairie Green site.
An asphalt pad has been laid in the area, which will house an all-weather facility to aid search efforts.
Search leaders said excavated material will be taken into the 40-foot tall building, where two teams of 12 searchers will spread it into a “thin layer” and look for human remains or evidence that might help locate the women’s bodies.
The province has said the search could push into 2026 and may include excavating up to 10 metres of materials.
The site also required a new access road and a hydro transmission line, which have been completed.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs partnered with the provincial government and relatives of the slain women to hire the search team earlier this year.
Nearly 200 people applied to participate in the search.
The federal and provincial governments have each committed $20 million to finding the women.
— with files from Tyler Searle
scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca
Scott Billeck
Reporter
Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott.
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