Battling pain, deep grief and shock, mixed in with feelings of vindication, the families of two slain Indigenous women whose bodies are believed to be at a Winnipeg landfill reacted to the news that possible human remains were discovered there Wednesday.
For the loved ones of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris, the hours since being notified of the discovery have been filled with a range of emotions that have been difficult to process.
Among them was anger – directed at the Winnipeg police and the previous Manitoba provincial government that for months told the families a search of the Prairie Green landfill was too dangerous, expensive and would likely not yield any results.
It’s something that makes Harris’ cousin Melissa Robinson’s “blood boil.”
“For two years, we were constantly told no because it couldn’t be done,” Robinson told reporters at a press conference Thursday hosted by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. “Or it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. But here we are, less than three months of the search commencing, and already, remains have been found. So yeah, it gets me very angry.”
Initially electing not to speak at the press conference, Harris’ daughter Elle Harris later denounced the forces that opposed the search.
“For every single one of you who said no – to the police system, to the government – you sit there and think about this,” Elle said. “Think about how disgustingly you treated us. And think of how far we made it, even though you said no. Look where we made it. Look where we are now and we’re not done, not at all.
“To every one of you that said no, to every one of you that didn’t believe in us, do better. Do better. How could you? How can you say no to somebody’s little girl? That’s my mom in there, that’s family in there.”
Before the search was eventually given the green light by new Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, then Premier Heather Stefanson effectively shut the door on a proposed search in July 2023 by citing a feasibility study about the health risks of the workers – due to exposure to toxic chemicals and asbestos – with no guarantee any remains would be found.
“The search process described in the report is complex and comes with long-term human health and safety concerns that simply cannot be ignored,” Stefanson wrote at the time.
The Tories ran advertisements in the 2023 election campaign that touted their decision to say no.
In late 2022, the Winnipeg Police Service said a search of Prairie Green was simply not feasible because the landfill was made up of heavily compacted, wet and heavy mud; too many tonnes of refuse had been added to the landfill before dumping was halted; and there was no GPS technology on the trucks dumping at that landfill to help track the location of possible remains.
“I think back to when we were going to Ottawa, days in after getting the news of everything, and the Winnipeg police stopping us at the airport, telling us why it couldn’t be done,” recounted Robinson. “Because it was Prairie Green and the surface, and they gave us all these reasons as to why they couldn’t, but nothing as to why they could. So a complete no from the beginning, complete no from the provincial government, where she (Stefanson) couldn’t even read the feasibility study, where it showed in there how it could be done.
“So yeah, it makes my blood boil to know that they’ve dragged us these last two years through all this anguish, all this hurt, all this sorrow, all this fighting. Standing at a landfill, at Camp Morgan for two years, begging the government to do something.”
Jorden Myran, Marcedes’ sister, says the answers and the families’ possible healing is years behind schedule because of those doubts and obstacles.
“If people would have just listened to us in the first place, we would have brought these women home a lot sooner,” Jorden said. “They didn’t deserve to sit in that landfill for as long as they did. So if people would have just listened to us and realized that they are there, this could have happened a lot sooner, and that’s what really angers me.”
After the possible remains were found Wednesday, the search was paused and forensic anthropologists were brought in. The Manitoba RCMP initiated a found human remains investigation at the site and is working with the Chief Medical Examiner. Identification could take weeks, officials say.
The families of Myran and Harris were called about the discovery, and they headed to the landfill where they met Premier Kinew.
“My heart dropped right down to my stomach,” Elle Harris said about receiving the call.
“There’s no real way of preparing yourself,” added Robinson, who said she woke up Thursday feeling shaky, uneasy and very emotional.
Jeremy Skibicki is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the killings of Harris, Myran and two other Indigenous women. His trial heard he targeted his victims at homeless shelters in Winnipeg and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins in his neighbourhood.
The remains of Rebecca Contois were found in a different landfill — the Brady landfill — and an unidentified woman, who an Indigenous grassroots community named Buffalo Woman, has not been located.
