The mayor of Winnipeg says the blockade must be ended and landfill activities resumed
WINNIPEG — The city of Winnipeg filed notice Tuesday that it will seek a court order to end a landfill blockade on the sixth day.
In a petition to the Court of King’s Bench, the city is asking for an order for the protesters to leave and permission to arrest and remove anyone who refuses.
There is a hearing on Wednesday morning.
“A continued blockade … carries serious risks of irreversible harm to the city, Winnipeg residents and businesses, and the environment,” the filing notice read.
Dozens of protesters have blocked the main road to the city-owned Brady Road landfill to demand a search for another landfill – the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill north of Winnipeg. It is there that the remains of two slain Indigenous women – Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran – are said to have been dumped last year.
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in those deaths, as well as in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found on Brady Road last year, and an unidentified woman. found it.
The blockade began last Thursday after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the province would not support a search in Prairie Green. She pointed to a study funded by the federal government earlier this year that said a search is possible, but not guaranteed to succeed.
The study also warned that searchers are at risk from exposure to toxic chemicals and asbestos. The search could take up to three years and cost $184 million. But the report also said refraining from a search could harm the women’s families.
A city official said earlier this week that the blockade prevented maintenance work and put the city at risk of violating its environmental permit because it was unable to go in and perform regular tasks that prevent toxins from leaching into the soil.
Mayor Scott Gillingham said on Tuesday he hoped for dialogue with the protesters.
“We are trying to do this respectfully through dialogue and reaching an agreement with the protesters, but ultimately it is my responsibility to the City of Winnipeg and the people of Winnipeg to ensure that garbage continues to be collected and we have access through that away.
One of the protesters said on Monday that the demonstrations will continue even if a court order forces those involved to move to another location.
A First Nations leader in Manitoba said the victims’ families will be denied closure until the dump is searched.
“It is unfortunate that the families are facing a situation where there has been no search,” Garrison Settee, Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, told reporters Tuesday at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Halifax.
“I think it’s sad, and I think more should have been done.”
– with files from Marlo Glass in Halifax
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 11, 2023.
