Manitoba’s decision not to search landfill ‘heartless’: Crown-Indigenous relations minister

Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller criticized Manitoba Wednesday over what he called the provincial government’s “heartless” decision not to search a landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of two First Nations women believed to be the victims of a serial killer.

Premier Heather Stefanson said last week Manitoba won’t provide support to search the Prairie Green landfill in rural municipality of Rosser for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. Police believe their remains are located below the surface of the privately run landfill just north of Winnipeg.

The decision not to search Prairie Green, issued seven months after police initially disclosed they believed the women’s remains ended up in the landfill, has led to widespread anger among the families of the victims, including a blockade and closure of the city-owned Brady Road landfill in south Winnipeg.

Speaking in Halifax, Miller said Manitoba’s decision has impaired the federal government’s ability to help. He suggested the province has acted in a callous manner.

“This has been dealt with in a very heartless way, quite frankly, and we do absolutely have to try as a federal government,” Miller told the Manitoba caucus of the Assembly of First Nations at the organization’s annual general assembly in the Nova Scotia capital.

“The reaction that we’ve seen from our partner in Manitoba is one that makes any decision this summer logistically impossible,” Miller continued.

“The federal government’s willing to help. We’re willing to play a role, a very important role in this. But … the government can’t nationalize a garbage dump or the waste-disposal system for the City of Winnipeg.”

The federal government needs to show leadership and make a decision about the search, a spokesperson for the premier’s office said in a statement to CBC News on Wednesday.

In announcing the decision against a search last week, Stefanson cited concerns about the health and safety of workers who would have to sift through material at the landfill.

Miller said Stefanson was correct to raise those issues, but noted Canada has experience conducting dangerous actions, such as remediating mines and searching garbage dumps.

“I think we have to try, and that’s the reality. What is shitty is that we lost the window this summer to get something done and get down to business,” he said.

Miller said he is not asking Manitoba to do the work on its own.

“We’re not saying do it alone. We’re saying we’re willing work with you.

“It’s very hard on the flip end of things for the government of Canada, as the federal entity, to say we’re just going to rush in there and do it alone. It just won’t work, logistically.”

Premier stands by ‘difficult decisions’

In response to Miller’s comments, a spokesperson for the premier’s office said in a statement to CBC News the federal government needs to show leadership and make a decision about the search.

Earlier Wednesday, Stefanson said she stood by the decision not to search the landfill.

“My heart goes out to the families. It’s a horrific situation that they’re facing right now, but I’m also the premier and we have to make what are difficult decisions,” Stefanson said at a gathering of Canada’s premiers in Winnipeg.

“These are decisions that need to be made, and I continue to stand by the decision that has been made.”

CBC News asked eight Winnipeg-area members of Parliament for their opinion on whether Prairie Green ought to be searched. Four responded on Wednesday.

Raquel Dancho, the Conservative MP for the north Winnipeg riding of Kildonan-St. Paul, said she agrees with Stefanson’s contention a search is untenable.

“I completely understand the families wanting some closure on this, and it’s just so unfortunate … given the logistics of the landfill and the construction material and the metres of clay and asbestos and animal products,” she said in a phone interview, adding the projected price tag for the search — up to $184 million, according to a report that looked at the feasibility of a search at Prairie Green — is devastating.

“It’s a nightmare situation. A very tough call needed to be made and I very much respect that the premier showed leadership and made made a tough call at this difficult time.”

Daniel Blaikie, the NDP MP for the east Winnipeg riding of Elmwood-Transcona, said failing to conduct a search does a disservice to the women whose remains are believed to be at the landfill and their families.

“We’ve been having for some time now a really important conversation about … systemic racism in policing and how Indigenous people are too quickly dismissed by police services,” Blaikie said in a phone interview, adding some form of search must be conducted.

“I think [we need] to sit down to try and figure out what the options are. If there are other ways of doing it that would be less expensive or less disruptive, so be it. But I think you come to those conclusions by continuing that dialogue.”

Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Leah Gazan issued a statement in support of the search. 

Saint Boniface-Saint Vital Liberal MP Dan Vandal said in a statement the government must take more action to address violence against Indigenous women and girls.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said he spoke to Miller on Wednesday, urging him to contact the families of Harris and Myran with answers about the feasibility study as soon as possible.

The two families “are stuck between two senior levels of government who do not agree on the next steps forward,” he told CBC News in a Wednesday statement, adding that the city is in a similar position.

“The families need a clear indication of the path ahead. The city needs a resolution to the Brady Road protest. And the entire community needs the senior levels of government to reach an agreement on this issue,” said Gillingham.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris and Myran, as well as the deaths of Rebecca Contois and a fourth unidentified woman, whom community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. 

Contois’s partial remains were found last year in the Brady Road landfill. Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe’s remains have not been found.

Skibicki’s trial is scheduled to begin in April 2024.