Canada to search landfill for Indigenous women remains

Ottawa and the provincial government of Manitoba on Friday committed Can$40 million (US$30 million) to search a landfill for the remains of Indigenous women who were allegedly murdered by a serial killer.

The two governments agreed to split the cost, an Indigenous leader and members of the victims’ families told a news conference after meeting with officials in their drive for action.

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The bodies of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are believed to have been dumped at the Prairie Green landfill, north of the provincial capital Winnipeg.

The partial remains of another victim, Rebecca Contois, were found in a different landfill, while the body of a fourth unidentified woman, whom Indigenous leaders have named Buffalo Woman, has not been found.

“Today and every day moving forward will be very, very tough,” Morgan Harris’ daughter Cambria told a press conference.

“But we did get a commitment today of Can$20 million from the provincial governments and from the federal government. So that’s a total of Can$40 million to search the landfill… to search every cubic meter,” she said.

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“I pray that one day we will see justice,” she added.

Canada has been reeling from revelations that at least 1,200 Indigenous women were killed or went missing in recent decades, and the separate discoveries of hundreds of unmarked children’s graves at Indigenous residential schools across the country.

A 2019 inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women found that they were 12 times more likely to experience violence and seven times more likely to be killed than other women in Canada.

A search of the Manitoba landfill had originally been dismissed, as officials said there was no guarantee of success and was too risky given asbestos and other toxic material at the site.

Two reports on the feasibility of a search commissioned by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, however, found it was doable.

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“Today’s a very bittersweet day. It’s a sense of relief. But more work needs to be done,” said Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Jeremy Skibicki was charged in December 2022 with first-degree murder in the four deaths earlier that year. He is scheduled to go on trial in April.