Families of slain First Nations women disappointed by meeting with Anandasangaree

The families of two First Nations women whose remains are believed to be in a Winnipeg landfill say they were left feeling disappointed by a meeting with a Liberal cabinet minister in Ottawa.

The remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are suspected to be in the Prairie Green Landfill, a private facility north of Winnipeg, and families have been calling for provincial and federal leaders to fund a search.

Their families say they expected Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree to tell them the federal government would tell them the federal government would fund the search when they met with him today.

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Daughter Cambria Harris is instead calling the meeting a retraumatizing experience, and says federal government has not yet promised to help.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran and two others – Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were found in a different landfill last year, and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders are calling Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe or Buffalo Woman.

Families, supporters and organizations including Amnesty International Canada are marking today as an International Day of Action to Search the Landfills, in an effort to pressure governments to do more.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2023.