Manitoba pausing operations at landfill where alleged serial killer's victims are believed to be
Manitoba pausing operations at landfill where alleged serial killer's victims are believed to be
WARNING: The details in this article may be disturbing to some viewers. Discretion is advised.
A landfill north of Winnipeg where the remains of two victims of an alleged serial killer are believed to be located will pause operations.
Premier Heather Stefanson and Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham announced Thursday that the Prairie Green Landfill will pause operations at the request of the province, in response to the deaths of four Indigenous women.
Winnipeg police previously said investigators believe the remains of Morgan Beatrice Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, are in this landfill, but said a search for them would not be feasible.
Stefanson said the landfill will not be accepting anything else, in the meantime, while officials work to figure out next steps in the investigation.
“We don’t want to presuppose what that may be and what comes out of that,” Stefanson said. “I think it’s very important that for right now, we take this pause, and we get this right.”
“Today is about the province and the city coming together to try and recognize the need the families have, and to work with Indigenous communities, as well as Indigenous leaders, and assist them in the next steps of this horrific tragedy,” Gillingham said.
Stefanson said the RM of Rosser and the owners of Prairie Green Landfill are cooperating with the pause.
Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki is accused of killing four Indigenous women –Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman that Indigenous leaders have called Buffalo Woman - between March and May of this year.
He is facing four counts of first-degree murder. The charges have not been proven in court.
Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth said there were several reasons for why the search wouldn’t be feasible, citing the passage of time, the fact that 10,000 truckloads of refuse were dumped in the area in the following months, and that trash at the landfill is compacted with heavy mud about 12 metres deep.
The decision has been criticized, with First Nations advocates, communities and family members of Harris calling on Smyth to resign.
"The message you are sending to the greater community is that Indigenous don't matter," Chief Kyra Wilson of Long Plain First Nation said during a press conference Thursday in Ottawa. "That if somebody wants to hurt our women that they can dump them in the landfill and no one will look for them."
"We are all trying to reach a reasonable compromise, but we have yet to receive words of acknowledgment, response nor agreements," Kera Harris, the daughter of Morgan Harris, said Thursday. "Not only have you refused to search these landfills, you have presented no alternative routes for how we can give these women peace."
Winnipeg city councillor Markus Chambers, who chairs the Winnipeg Police Board, said the investigation is an emotional one.
“The (Indigenous) community has just come through the residential school system and the unmarked graves. We have to be sensitive to that, and that’s exactly where we are right now in requesting this pause,” he said.
Chambers said he was meeting with Smyth later in the afternoon about the investigation.
With files from The Canadian Press.
-----------
There is a support line available for those impacted by missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and LGBTQ2S+ people: 1-844-413-6649.
Additional mental-health and community-based emotional support and cultural services are also available through the federal government.
Former Mississauga, Ont. mayor Hazel McCallion, nicknamed 'Hurricane Hazel,' has died. She was 101 years old. Premier Doug Ford said McCallion died peacefully at her home early Sunday morning.
The federal government has set aside billions of dollars to quickly build affordable housing across the country, but delays in construction suggest many of the projects approved for funding are missing their deadlines.
When President Joe Biden signed a bill last year to fight gun violence -- the first such measure to pass Congress in a generation -- a substantial majority supported it. But 78 per cent said they believed it would do little or nothing at all, a survey by the Pew Research Center found.
The Memphis police chief on Saturday disbanded the unit whose officers beat to death Tyre Nichols as the nation and the city struggled to come to grips with video showing police pummelling the Black motorist.
After years of reports and allegations detailing a 'toxic' workplace, Canada's RCMP says it is trying to evolve, focusing on diversity in its organization and repairing relationships with communities as it marks its 150th anniversary.
When 1990s suede fringe jackets started making a comeback last year, a U.K.-based vintage clothing company decided to order four tonnes of suede from a supplier in the United States. Along with that shipment came a once-in-a lifetime discovery.
When the cold and snow have people hunkering down, these outdoor enthusiasts find motivation in braving the Canadian winter through community and sport.
Tyre Nichols' fatal encounter with police officers in Memphis, Tenn., recorded in video made public Friday night, is a glaring reminder that efforts to reform policing have failed to prevent more flashpoints in an intractable epidemic of brutality.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos insists the federal government is going to 'work flexibly' with the provinces on the terms of a possible health-care funding deal and avoid 'micromanaging' how they deliver health care to Canadians.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Former Mississauga, Ont. mayor Hazel McCallion, nicknamed 'Hurricane Hazel,' has died. She was 101 years old. Premier Doug Ford said McCallion died peacefully at her home early Sunday morning.
An organization helping Ukrainian newcomers settle into their new lives in Edmonton is hosting a furniture donation blitz to help restock their warehouse.
Canadian police chiefs condemned on Friday the death of a Black man who was savagely beaten by police during a traffic stop in the United States, saying the officers involved must be held accountable.
Former Mississauga, Ont. mayor Hazel McCallion, nicknamed 'Hurricane Hazel,' has died. She was 101 years old. Premier Doug Ford said McCallion died peacefully at her home early Sunday morning.
Late Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion is being remembered for the many ways she contributed to not only to the city she led for 36 years, but also the province.
The Hitmen return to the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex helped a little as the team collected a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Saskatoon Blades Saturday afternoon on Tsuut'ina Nation.
Anti-poverty activists are praising the Quebec basic income program as a good step toward helping people meet their basic needs — but say strict eligibility criteria exclude many of the province’s lowest-income residents.
Some Indigenous communities in Quebec that are patrolled by provincial police say the established system does not fully meet security needs and needs improvement.
A ceremony will be held this evening to mark the sixth anniversary of Quebec City's deadly mosque shooting. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, several senior federal cabinet ministers and Quebec Premier Francois Legault are among those expected to attend.
OPS and Ottawa Bylaw officers issued 117 parking tickets and 47 Provincial Offences Notices Saturday, as hundreds of people marked the one-year anniversary of the 'Freedom Convoy'.
Ottawa police are warning the public of the dangers of texting explicit images to people on social media platforms, after seeing a spike in sextortion cases this winter.
Some faculty members at Cape Breton University have walked off the job. Their strike started Friday, with the faculty's union saying the administration has disrespected it at every turn, leading to a large number of labour grievances.
The Region of Waterloo has lost a court bid for an injunction to evict residents of an encampment on municipally owned land at Victoria Street North and Weber Street West in Kitchener.
A drag queen show in Elora will continue Saturday night as planned, despite organizers saying concerns were raised after online comments targeted the event.
With art displays and activities to bring out the best of winter for a one-day festival of fun, Winterloo has returned after three years of pandemic alterations.
A former Kelowna nurse has been disciplined by her professional college for her inadequate response to an unresponsive person at the entrance of the emergency department where she was working in September 2021.
BC Emergency Health Services saw a slight decline in 911 calls for overdose and drug toxicity last year, but some areas saw a dramatic increase, and the death rate doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
