Manitoba premier says Jeremy Skibicki should stay behind bars for life

WINNIPEG -

Convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki should never again see the light of day as a free person, and any future parole hearings should take into account the impact his killings have had on family members, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Thursday.

Skibicki was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years, for killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg. The trial heard Skibicki targeted his victims at homeless shelters, then strangled or drowned them before disposing of their remains in garbage bins.

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The four concurrent life sentences, and 25 years without parole eligibility, are the maximum penalty under federal law. Ottawa used to have a law that allowed for consecutive sentences with longer periods of parole ineligibility, but the Supreme Court of Canada struck it down two years ago.

In response to reporter questions at an unrelated news conference, Kinew praised the handling of the trial by Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of King's Bench, who acknowledged in his ruling the acute and tragic societal realities Indigenous women face every day.

Kinew said while the law allows people convicted of first-degree murder to apply for parole after 25 years, Skibicki should not be granted release.

"The crimes that were committed, the terrible actions which are now part of this person's vocabulary, means that they can never be free again," Kinew said.

"I can commit to you that family members, people such as myself, everyone who's been touched by this terrible sequence of crimes and the humanitarian cries for help from the families, will never forget. And we will be there to remind whoever is entertaining (parole) in the future."

Joyal convicted Skibicki, 37, last month of four counts of first-degree murder in the 2022 slayings of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman Indigenous community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.

 The killings came to light when a man looking for scrap metal found the partial remains of 24-year-old Contois in a dumpster in Skibicki's neighbourhood. More of her remains were discovered at a city-run landfill.

During a police interrogation, Skibicki admitted to killing Contois and the three other women.

Kinew also said his government is taking steps to address the concerns of victims' families, such as a search of a landfill north of Winnipeg where the remains of Harris and Myran are believed to be. With preparatory work well underway, the search is on schedule to begin in October, Kinew said.

Police have not said where they believe Buffalo Woman's remains are.

After the federal government, under former prime minister Stephen Harper, passed a law in 2011 to allow for consecutive life sentences for multiple murders, several people faced longer periods of parole ineligibility. They include Dellen Millard of Ontario, who was sentenced to life with no parole for at least 75 years for three murders.

After the Supreme Court of Canada deemed the law a violation of the Charter right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment, the parole eligibility period for Millard and others was reduced to 25 years.

Joyal told court on Wednesday that because of the current state of the law, the sentence he imposed does not adequately reflect the gravity of Skibicki's offences.

"My hope is that any eventual parole power will take very, very careful note of the evidence in this case, my recent decision, the voices we heard today and now my comments in imposing this sentence," he said referring to any future parole hearings.

A veteran member of Manitoba's Opposition Progressive Conservatives and former justice minister, Kelvin Goertzen, posted on social media this week that the federal government should reinstate consecutive life sentences, even it means using the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024