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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
It's no secret that spring can be a tumultuous time for Canadian weather, and as an unseasonably mild El Nino winter gives way to summer, there's bound to be a few swings in temperature that seem out of the ordinary. From Ontario to the Atlantic, though, this week is about to feel a little erratic.
What do weight loss drugs mean for a diet industry built on eating less and exercising more?
Recent injected drugs like Wegovy and its predecessor, the diabetes medication Ozempic, are reshaping the health and fitness industries.
He replaced Mickey Mantle. Now baseball's oldest living major leaguer is turning 100
The oldest living former major leaguer, Art Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.
What a urologist wants you to know about male infertility
When opposite sex couples are trying and failing to get pregnant, the attention often focuses on the woman. That’s not always the case.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Made-in-Newfoundland vodka claims top prize at worldwide competition
A Newfoundland-made vodka has been named one of the world’s best by judges at this year’s World Vodka Awards.