Court hearing on injunction to end Winnipeg landfill blockade adjourned to Thursday

A hearing on a court injunction to remove a blockade on the main road leading to a Winnipeg landfill has been adjourned for another day.

Justice Sheldon Lanchberry adjourned the matter to Thursday at noon and directed the city to issue a news release with all the details with respect to the hearing, tomorrow so all the respondents have the opportunity to appear.

Robyn Johnston, who is not a lawyer but was at the hearing Wednesday representing the families of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris, requested the matter be adjourned so they can retain counsel.

“We had only been issued the affidavit yesterday,” Johnston said. “And, you know, despite what we heard, and what we may have been told, and what was going around social media, we still had no idea of really what was going on, until last night. So I wanted to come here, I wanted to ask for an extension because we should have the ability to bring a lawyer to represent us. And I'm happy that the judge allowed that to happen.”

The blockade at the Brady Road landfill has been in place since July 6, going up in response to the provincial government’s decision to not support a search of the Prairie Green landfill outside of the city, where the bodies of Harris and Myran are believed to be located.

Families have been calling for the search of the landfill after Winnipeg police found the partial remains of Rebecca Contois last year in Winnipeg’s Brady Landfill.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Contois, Harris, Myran and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. Her remains have not been located.

Johnston said it wouldn’t be right if the injunction was granted by the court.

“We're peaceful people. We don't hurt people. We allow anyone to come into our camp. We teach people,” she said.

In its application filed Tuesday, the city said a lack of access to the Brady Road landfill could cause risks to environmental health and safety, including the combustion of waste materials, toxic gas buildup, the buildup and potential leaking of toxic liquids, increased odours and littering at the facility and the inability to do testing.

-with files from CTV’s Danton Unger and Devon McKendrick.