Family and supporters gather to protest at Portage and Main in Winnipeg, on Aug. 3.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
There is no scenario in which a province gets to walk away “scot-free” when two women are believed to be lying dead in a dump, says former Crown-Indigenous relations minister Marc Miller.
In recent weeks, rallies have been held to demand a search of the Prairie Green Landfill, north of Winnipeg, for the remains of 39-year-old Morgan Harris and 26-year-old Marcedes Myran. The women were both members of Long Plain First Nation, an Ojibway and Dakota community located in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba.
The provincial government has said a search of the landfill would be exceedingly challenging, as there are safety risks.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail that focused on his previous portfolio, Mr. Miller, who was moved from Crown-Indigenous relations to immigration in a recent federal cabinet shuffle, said the situation in Manitoba has been “frustrating as hell” because the party that has effective jurisdiction over workers and the administration of justice is just “walking away from the table and saying, ‘That’s it. We’re not doing anything.’ ”
“We need the province at the table,” he said, adding that the federal government also has an important role to play.
”We’re not walking away from this because the national tragedy is ours to bear as well. But no province can walk away scot-free.”
Last December, Winnipeg police said they believed the remains of the women are in the landfill. But the service said conducting a search would be too difficult and dangerous because of contaminants at the site, including asbestos.
While Indigenous people call for justice, Winnipeg’s police take aim at graffiti
An alleged serial killer, 35-year-old Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki, has been charged with the first-degree murder of the two women, as well as the killings of 24-year-old Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders have referred to as “Buffalo Woman.”
Police have said they believe Buffalo Woman was Indigenous and likely in her mid-20s. They have shown photos of a jacket with striped lining that they believe she wore. Her identity and whereabouts are unknown.
Mr. Skibicki was arrested in May, 2022, after Ms. Contois’s partial remains were found in a garbage bin outside an apartment building in Winnipeg. Additional remains were later discovered at a local dump known as the Brady Road landfill.
Last Thursday, family members of Ms. Harris and Ms. Myran met with new Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree, along with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, the Chief of Long Plain First Nation and the mayor of Winnipeg.
Mr. Anandasangaree’s office said in a statement that the federal government is committed to helping the families of the victims, but underscored that it “cannot do this work alone.” The statement said Ottawa needs the co-operation of the province, citing “jurisdictional considerations we cannot ignore.”
Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said last month in a statement that, based on a review of the situation, the province has made “the difficult decision that such a search is not viable.” The integrity of the pending legal proceedings against the alleged killer is an “ever-present consideration here in Manitoba,” she said.
The Premier also said that statements made by Mr. Miller on the matter in Halifax this summer were “more than unfortunate” and that when “judgment and sensitivity are required, he has chosen to inflame and distort.”
Ms. Stefanson was referring to Mr. Miller’s statements at the annual general meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in July, where he took issue with Manitoba for failing to search the Prairie Green Landfill, calling it “unfair” and “not the right thing to do.”
Earlier this year, Ottawa provided $500,000 to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs to study the feasibility of a search at the site. An executive summary of the 55-page report said a search was feasible but not without “considerable risks” because of toxic chemicals and asbestos. It also said it could take up to three years and would cost as much as $184-million.
Mr. Miller said the Premier’s position on the search came as a surprise to the federal government and officials who were speaking to the province.
The families do not want to compromise a case involving an alleged murderer, he said, but briefings from justice officials indicated they had a strong case against the individual. He also said the feasibility study, which he has read more than once, said there were ways around the challenges.
Mr. Anandasangaree’s office said it would comment further on the feasibility study when “it is appropriate to do so.”
Cindy Woodhouse, the Manitoba regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations, said the province has an obligation to support the bereaved families by properly investigating these crimes, which includes a search of the landfill.
The fact the province has given up without even trying “has compounded the harm of these horrible crimes,” she said.
”There is a path forward: by working with the families and First Nations. I say with so many others, ‘Take our hand and help us search the landfill.’ ”
With reports from Molly Hayes in Toronto