Why won’t Manitoba search a landfill for the remains of two murder victims?

Last year, a man was arrested and charged with the murder of four Indigenous women in the Winnipeg area. When the charges were laid police said they believed the remains of two of the women were within the Prairie Green landfill, but that they wouldn’t be searching for them. Then experts weighed in, the federal government was petitioned, costs and concerns were cited, and last week Manitoba’s provincial government decided not to allow a search. That’s when the protests began.

Brittany Hobson is a reporter who’s been covering the debate surrounding the landfill for The Canadian Press. She says the controversy has worsened an already fraught relationship between the local authorities and Indigenous communities. “There was a lot of talk about ‘the police are being racists’, and that if it were white women, this wouldn’t be the outcome, so there was a lot of hurt and anger,” says Hobson.

So, why would the government prevent a search? What impact could this have on the case, and on families and community? And with protests not stopping anytime soon, what happens next?

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