A protest blockade was taken down on a road leading to a landfill just outside Winnipeg Tuesday, but that should not end the saga of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.
The remains of the women are believed to be in another Winnipeg-area landfill and a decision to leave them there was quite rightly branded as “heartless” by federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller.
The remains of the women are believed to be in another Winnipeg-area landfill and a decision to leave them there was quite rightly branded as “heartless” by federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller.
It was a harsh indictment of Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson’s decision to refuse a site search, not the type of language usually employed by a federal minister dealing with a provincial premier and it did not sit well with Stefanson. But what else does one call a decision to devalue the life of two Indigenous women by leaving their remains to rot with garbage?
It was a harsh indictment of Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson’s decision to refuse a site search, not the type of language usually employed by a federal minister dealing with a provincial premier and it did not sit well with Stefanson. But what else does one call a decision to devalue the life of two Indigenous women by leaving their remains to rot with garbage?
The two women are believed to be victims of a serial killer charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four Indigenous women. Stefanson cited potential harm to workers for refusing to fund a search.
There is no question it would be a gargantuan task. A committee which studied the feasibility of a search estimated it could take one to three years and cost anywhere from $84 million to $184 million. There is no guarantee a search would be successful. It would require a conveyor belt inside a newly-constructed structure so the search of about 60,000 tonnes of material could continue through the Manitoba winter.
There is no question it would be a gargantuan task. A committee which studied the feasibility of a search estimated it could take one to three years and cost anywhere from $84 million to $184 million. There is no guarantee a search would be successful. It would require a conveyor belt inside a newly-constructed structure so the search of about 60,000 tonnes of material could continue through the Manitoba winter.
Lately, the premier has also raised the potential peril to the criminal case against the accused, presumably because of the time it might take to find the remains. But prosecutors said they could proceed against the alleged killer without the remains of the women being found.
There is no doubt there are many who would back a decision not to spend substantial public funds in a potentially fruitless search.
But what is the cost of doing nothing? In a supposed era of Indigenous reconciliation, a refusal to fund a search would severely set back those efforts, which have hardly moved at a pace that Indigenous communities rightly expected. It sends a dark message about the societal status of Indigenous Canadians and women who were cherished mothers, daughters and granddaughters.
But what is the cost of doing nothing? In a supposed era of Indigenous reconciliation, a refusal to fund a search would severely set back those efforts, which have hardly moved at a pace that Indigenous communities rightly expected. It sends a dark message about the societal status of Indigenous Canadians and women who were cherished mothers, daughters and granddaughters.
Ottawa funded a feasibility study of a search into the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill which was carried out by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. The experts on the panel said this week that any danger in the search cited by Stefanson could be mitigated and they pointed to other successful searches.
Ottawa funded a feasibility study of a search into the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill which was carried out by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. The experts on the panel said this week that any danger in the search cited by Stefanson could be mitigated and they pointed to other successful searches.
Toronto police launched an unprecedented 2021 search of a landfill in the London area and found a homicide victim in less than two months. His remains were believed to have been in the landfill for eight months. In 2002, the remains or DNA of 33 women were found on the British Columbia pig farm of notorious serial killer Robert Pickton. His farm was more than three times the size of the Manitoba landfill.
The search for the remains of the 39-year-old Harris and the 26-year-old Myran, both members of the Stony Plain First Nation, has become exponentially more difficult by the inaction of both police and governments.
The search for the remains of the 39-year-old Harris and the 26-year-old Myran, both members of the Stony Plain First Nation, has become exponentially more difficult by the inaction of both police and governments.
Winnipeg police determined by June 2022, that the slain women’s bodies had been dumped in the site by, but did not reveal that to the families until December. Each day during that time, more garbage was dumped in the site.
There is a backdrop here that clearly cannot be ignored. At least 10 of Winnipeg’s 51 homicide victims in 2022 — about 20 per cent — were Indigenous women, according to a CBC analysis.
Indigenous women in Manitoba feel targeted. Leaving the remains of the women to decompose without a search simply feeds the perception that they are easily cast aside. Families need some type of closure, even if the success of a search is far from assured.
Forget the odds and make the effort. The message sent by all levels of government to Indigenous Canadians by this inaction will cause further damage to reconciliation efforts and will be a stain on this country’s international reputation.