Search for women’s remains in landfill rests with Ottawa, Manitoba premier says.

WINNIPEG — A Manitoba grand chief said Wednesday she will continue to push for a landfill search for the remains of two slain women, despite being rejected by the Manitoba government.

“I hope that the premier and province of Manitoba reconsider their decision,” Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Thursday.

“It is a human act of compassion and justice that (the women’s) remains be returned to their families for a proper burial at their home community.”

Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are believed to have been killed last year in Winnipeg. Police believe the women’s remains were left in a garbage bin three days apart in early May 2022 and the contents of the dumpster were sent to the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill north of the city.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in their deaths, as well as the deaths of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found in another landfill, and an unidentified woman whom Indigenous leaders have named Buffalo Woman. Her remains have not been found. 

Some relatives and Indigenous leaders met Wednesday with Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, who said the province cannot support a search that would expose workers to hazardous chemicals with no guarantee that remains will be found.

Stefanson told reporters Thursday the issue is not one of money, but of worker safety.

“The landfill is full of toxic waste,” Stefanson said.

“I would absolutely not want anyone to be putting themselves at significant risk going through that search process.”

Stefanson also cited a desire to not affect the judicial process. Skibicki is expected to stand trial next year.

But Manitoba would not stand in the way if the federal government led the way on a search, if it could somehow guarantee worker safety, Stefanson told reporters.

“You need to go and ask them what is their plan, what is their intention moving forward.”

Landfills are provincially regulated, but Stefanson said the search is up to the federal government.

The federal minister for Crown-Indigenous relations, Marc Miller, has said Ottawa is still reviewing a feasibility study on a potential search it funded this spring.

That report cited asbestos and other materials such as methane and hydrogen in the landfill. It said searchers would have to wear hazardous material clothing and go through a decontamination station. 

The report said a search is feasible but would not be guaranteed to find remains. It also said a search could take up to three years and cost as much as $184 million.

Merrick said the study points to ways to conduct a search safely. She has written to Stefanson to ask her to change her mind by the end of July. 

Merrick also said she is optimistic the federal government will decide to proceed with a search.

“I’m very hopeful. It’s just a matter of timing, but time is of the essence as well from our part because … we want to do some work prior to winter setting in.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2023

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press