Trash collection operations at a landfill outside Winnipeg were halted Thursday as calls for the remains of two Indigenous women suspected of being victims of a serial killer intensified.
Premier Heather Stefanson said management at the Prairie Green Landfill, a private dump north of the city, has halted operations while the province and city figure out what to do.
“It’s very important that we take this break and do things right,” she said.
“We need to assess the site. We have to do a lot of different things in the next few moments. In the meantime, all we’re asking for right now is a break. »
Some of these next steps will include working with Indigenous communities, said Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham.
“We don’t want to jeopardize this case in any way. But it is important that […] the Indigenous community and Indigenous leadership are also helping to determine next steps. »
Police Chief Danny Smyth said this week there is every reason to believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are in an out-of-town dump, but too much time has passed — and therefore that too much waste has been deposited — for the research to be conclusive.
Mr Smyth cited the passing of time, the fact that 10,000 truckloads of waste were dumped in the area over the following months and the waste from the landfill is compacted with thick mud to a depth of around 12 meters .
He acknowledged the families’ pain and anger and said this was not how he wanted the search to end.
Manitoba Indigenous leaders are calling for the resignation of Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth.
Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said the decision not to conduct a search for the bodies hurts the sense of safety in the city.
They call for the immediate resignation of Mr. Smyth and demand that excavations be launched at the dump.
“The message you are sending to the whole community is that Aboriginal people don’t matter,” Kyra Wilson said at a press conference Thursday in Ottawa. That if someone wants to harm our women, he can throw them in the dump and no one will look for them”.
M’s familyme Harris has joined the call for Mr Smyth to step down.
Kera Harris said she was fed up with police inaction in finding her mother’s body. She added that if Mr Smyth cannot complete the search, he should step aside and give someone else the chance to provide the family with an appropriate resolution.
“We are all trying to reach a reasonable compromise, but we have not yet received words of recognition, response, or agreement,” she said. Not only did you refuse to search these dumps, but you offered no alternative way to give peace to these women. »
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with the murders of four women, namely Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois, and a fourth victim whom Native leaders called “Buffalo Woman”.
Police believe the women were killed in the spring, although investigators have so far only located M’s bodyme Contois. Some of the remains of his remains were found in a city dumpster and another dump last spring.
Ottawa supports families
Kyra Wilson was also joined by several other Manitoba First Nations leaders in calling for Mr. Smyth’s resignation.
Grand Chief Jerry Daniels of the Southern Chiefs’ Organization in Manitoba recommended closing the landfill to address safety concerns.
“You can’t use language around that it’s not doable because it doesn’t work for us. It doesn’t work for our women, and it won’t work for our relationship with the police,” he said.
The Winnipeg Police Board is meeting Thursday evening to discuss next steps, said board chair Markus Chambers.
He said the conversation will be about helping families, not calls for Mr Smyth to step down.
According to Mr. Chambers, since the community has just gone through hardships related to the residential school system and the unmarked graves, the council must “be sensitive to this”.
“That’s exactly where we are right now asking for the break,” he said.
The women’s deaths were brought up at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Ottawa where several federal ministers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke about supporting the community.
“These appalling and recurring acts of violence against Indigenous women cannot continue. Our government remains committed to making transformative change,” Trudeau told First Nations leaders.
He said Ottawa will continue to work to implement changes to address the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the federal government would stand with the families.
“These families deserve the same professional support as all other Canadians,” he said. We will do everything we can to make sure law enforcement has the tools and resources to do the job. »
All decisions made by the police will be made independently, he added.
— with files from Steve Lambert in Winnipeg and Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa