Indigenous community in shock as police dismiss homicide after body found in landfill

Many in the Indigenous community and on Lake St. Martin First Nation are devastated and heartbroken after the body of 33-year-old Linda Beardy was found here at Winnipeg’s Brady Road Landfill.

Now some are questioning whether the police were too quick to come to a conclusion about how she got here.

“(I am) very angry. When I first got the news, my first thought was not again,” said Vivian Ketchum, Residential School Survivor.

Ketchum, who is a Residential School Survivor, says she is still in shock, trying to wrap her head around the fact that yet another Indigenous woman’s body ended up at the landfill.

“Why does this keep happening?”

On Thursday, Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth said public tips led investigators to a business on Pembina Highway where they were able to learn what happened to 33-year-old Beardy.

He says after leaving the store, Beardy climbed into a garbage bin and never emerged. The bin was then picked up just a few hours later and emptied at the landfill.

Smyth saying police are waiting on toxicology and autopsy results, and still hoping for information from the public.

But Ketchum feels investigators were too quick to dismiss the Beardy family’s concerns.

“It just made me more angry. There was no reassurance that this was going to happen again. The police officer’s words were not assuring, and this made me feel like we’re garbage.”

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• Woman’s body found at Brady landfill: Winnipeg police

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In a statement Beardy’s family described her as someone who unconditionally supported her four older sisters, their children and her own four children. They said they found the police to be dismissive and worried officers may not conduct a thorough investigation into her death, after the statements the force made.

Joseph Munro who is part of the First Nation Indigenous Warriors, says police told him Friday morning that their investigation into this case is complete. He says he doesn’t understand how though as still a lot of unanswered questions remain.

“The families are really beside themselves and they’re hard-pressed to believe what the police are saying,” said Munro. “The family is crying for a private investigation into this matter. They don’t trust the police. The police have brought harm to their community. They are brought harm to our community in this city, throughout Manitoba and right across Canada.

The family and the Indigenous community now calling for the landfill to remain closed. Earlier, the remains of another Indigenous woman Rebecca Contois were found at the same landfill.

Winnipeg police have charged Jeremy Skibicki with four counts of first-degree murder in her death as well as in the killings of three other Indigenous woman — Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and an unidentified victim named Buffalo Woman.

Earlier this week, Manitoba NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine said more support was needed for Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people.

“We have to prioritize the protection of Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited and by that, I mean ensuring that there are programs and services that support Indigenous women and girls and two-spirited that don’t put at risk our lives.”

Ketchum says she doesn’t have much hope that anything will change.

“They did not offer any steps to stop this from happening. They are not taking the calls to action. There is absolutely nothing happening at the city level, provincial level, and federal level. Nothing.”