Search for remains must continue at Winnipeg-area landfill: Indigenous leaders
Posted March 19, 2025 4:01 pm.
While providing a step towards closure for their families, the discovery of remains belonging to Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran at Winnipeg’s Prairie Green landfill has also generated questions about what comes next.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew confirmed the search is continuing at the landfill, but stopped short of saying if that will include looking for other victims.
The remains of “Buffalo Woman,” an unidentified Indigenous woman also known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, have not been found.
“It’s possible to find her and hopefully we can continue to search,” said Garrison Settee, the Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO). “But yes, the search needs to continue.”
Kyra Wilson, the Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC), added: “I know it’s a conversation we have to have with everyone at the table, but we haven’t had that conversation yet.”
The family of Tanya Nepinak, who went missing in September 2011, also want their voices heard in that conversation. Nepinak’s remains were never found, and her family has long maintained she could be at Winnipeg’s Brady landfill. Winnipeg police searched the landfill for one week in October 2011.
Along with Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were found at Brady, Harris, Myran and “Buffalo Woman” were the victims of Winnipeg serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, who was convicted of first-degree murder last year in their slayings.
A search of the Prairie Green landfill began in December in the hopes of finding Harris and Myran. Two sets of remains were found on Feb. 26, and their identification marked a significant moment in a case that has deeply impacted Manitoba.
“It’s sad but at the same time it’s bittersweet, and I am thankful we found them, and I hope we can continue to protect our sisters and loved ones so no one ends up in that situation again,” said Grand Chief Settee.
The discovery has also reignited resentment towards the Winnipeg Police Service and previous Manitoba government, which for months told the families a search of the landfill was too dangerous, expensive and would likely not yield any results.
“A lot of naysayers, a lot of people said this shouldn’t be done, but we found them,” said Grand Chief Settee.
In late 2022, the Winnipeg Police Service said a search of Prairie Green was simply not feasible because the landfill was made up of heavily compacted, wet and heavy mud; too many tonnes of refuse had been added to the landfill before dumping was halted; and there was no GPS technology on the trucks dumping at that landfill to help track the location of possible remains.
In 2023, Winnipeg police suggested the recovery was possible, but believed it would come with some challenges.
“There needs to be an inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service,” said Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, the chair of the National Family and Survivors Circle.
“We need to go back and look at what happened and why it happened and based on the lessons learned, what we can do moving forward and focus on those solutions.”
WPS says it will not make any public comments on the search, until police officials can sit down and speak with the families.
