Winnipeg landfill to reopen while talks of searching for Indigenous women continue

A landfill has reopened to the public after weeks of conversations between the City of Winnipeg and demonstrators who set up blockades calling for a search of the area for Indigenous women believed to be victims of an alleged serial killer.

An encampment is to remain near the entrance along the roadway to the Brady Road Resource Management Facility, but the city says customers will be able to access the landfill and the depot.

Indigenous groups and family members have been advocating for a search of the site after the partial remains of Rebecca Contois were found in the city-run landfill last summer.

“We are here to make sure that this is not forgotten,” said Tre Delaronde, Protector, First Nations Indigenous Warriors (FNIW), as demonstrators gathered outside the landfill.

“So we have an obligation to defend and protect the murdered and missing. And we have an honor to do so within our hearts and spirits, because it is the families that demand justice. And when injustice is being ignored, that’s when warriors come out and ensure that true justice may be done.”

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“This is under the family’s call. So whenever the families make the decision, we are to obey and we are to listen. And so if they say this is open, it may be open. It’s an agreement that the family has made with the municipal,” said Delaronde.

“We want all the hundred, not just 100, but we want a lot of red dresses. That shows to say that, you know, you care for our women when you hang them up. Every dress represents a stolen sister. And so if you come here with those red dresses, you’re showing your solidarity, support for the families and for the women who have been lost at an age that should never have been taken at.”

Police have charged Jeremy Skibicki with first-degree murder in the deaths of Contois and three other women whose bodies have not been found.

Police believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are at a landfill outside the city that is privately owned, but Harris’s family has been calling for a search of both sites.

The city says it is committed to maintaining an open dialogue with demonstrators and have been able to reach a compromise that supports the right to peacefully protest while allowing operations to continue at the landfill.