Winnipeg police won’t be involved in landfill search for two First Nations women, says Wab Kinew

Open this photo in gallery:

Manitoba’s Premier says the Winnipeg Police Service will not be directly involved in the search of a landfill where at least two First Nations women were disposed of by a confessed serial killer.

Wab Kinew told a media briefing held inside the legislative building on Thursday that his government is holding the responsibility for the search, as he laid out the plans for a multiyear operation at the Prairie Green landfill, north of the provincial capital.

Although Winnipeg police might be asked to share information related to their investigation of the killings, which could help the search, officers from the force will not be brought in to oversee or manage it, he said.

Jeremy Skibicki, 37, admitted to killing and dumping the bodies of four First Nations women, including the two – Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26 – that police believe eventually ended up at the large Prairie Green site in the rural municipality of Rosser in 2022.

Families of the women and First Nations leaders have been demanding a search of the landfill for the past two years, for which the Manitoba and federal governments each committed $20-million in March but only began to disclose details about last week, after closing arguments were heard in Mr. Skibicki’s trial. A verdict is scheduled to be delivered on July 11.

On Thursday, the Premier introduced Amna Mackin, Manitoba’s assistant deputy minister for cabinet delivery and strategic priorities, as the project lead for the search, which is already under way and could last until 2026. Both officials said the site is not being treated as an active crime scene, as they provided insight into the complex procedures for what they described as a “compassionate and humanitarian mission.”

The search will continue throughout the winter by using heating installments at the site, Ms. Mackin said. She added that forensic anthropologist Emily Holland, a Brandon University professor who worked on the search of notorious serial killer Robert Pickton’s farm in British Columbia, has been assigned to hire and train dozens of people who will manually sift through a two-hectare section of Prairie Green, expected to be roughly 10 metres below the surface.

Instead of a conveyer belt machine, as was used to dig for the remains of Mr. Pickton’s victims, a manual search is more feasible in Winnipeg, Ms. Mackin said. The entire operation would have to be halted if that machine breaks down, and it is not as effective in what is expected to be a higher moisture environment at the landfill than at Mr. Pickton’s farm, the Premier added.

Mr. Kinew said an oversight committee that will include families of the victims and Indigenous elders will be involved with every step of the search.

“One of the questions that I think we have to sort through with the operation committee is: If we do get to identifying the remains, what is the protocol there? Who is notified? Presumably the families first. But are there additional steps?

“I guess part of that is going to involve some consultation with law enforcement authorities,” he said.

Ms. Mackin added that, “if the remains are found, that would be more of the jurisdiction of the RCMP and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.”

Winnipeg police did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

Last week, the Winnipeg force was criticized by federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree, who said in Ottawa that police could have been more pro-active when the killings occurred in 2022. The service told The Globe and Mail that it would reach Mr. Anandasangaree about his comments, but would not be answering any questions about its involvement in the current landfill search.

At the start of Mr. Skibicki’s trial, both the defence and Crown agreed that he killed four First Nations women in 2022: a yet-to-be-identified woman whom Indigenous elders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, meaning Buffalo Woman on or about March 15; Ms. Harris on or about May 1 of that year; Ms. Myran on or about May 4; and 24-year-old Rebecca Contois on or about May 15.

Winnipeg police had found some of Ms. Contois’s remains at the separate Brady Road landfill in the southern outskirts of the city in 2022. But while they had assessed whether they should search Prairie Green for Ms. Myran and Ms. Harris’s remains, it was considered too dangerous because of hazardous chemicals and waste.

The Premier said a decision has not been made about whether Prairie Green will also be searched for Buffalo Woman, whose remains, at this time, are not believed to be in that landfill.

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who previously served as Manitoba’s regional chief, said in an interview Thursday that the search is a positive step for families who are looking for peace and hope.

“I hope that they find closure, and that they’re able to find their family members and bring them home,” she said.

With a report from Kristy Kirkup in Ottawa