City of Winnipeg files for injunction to remove landfill blockade

The City of Winnipeg has filed for a court injunction to remove a group of protesters blocking the main entrance to the Brady Road landfill.

The blockade, now in its fifth day, was set up a day after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson announced the province's decision not to fund a search of the Prairie Green landfill just north of Winnipeg, where the remains of two murdered Indigenous women are believed to be.

Protesters at the Brady Road landfill will not leave unless an injunction is granted by the court, according to an affidavit filed by the city in Manitoba's Court of King's Bench on Tuesday.

There are concerns about environmental, safety and financial risks that will cause "irreparable harm" to the city if the court order is not granted, according to the affidavit.

"The city has suffered damages and will almost certainly continue to suffer damage and loss if the injunctive relief sought is not granted," the application, which will be first heard in court Wednesday morning, says.

The city's manager of solid waste services, Michael Gordichuk, swore the affidavit. The city says their application for an injunction will be on the judge's uncontested list.

About 10 people remained stationed behind old tires stacked up and filled with lumber at the south Winnipeg landfill on Tuesday afternoon.

Protesters previously blocked access to the landfill between Dec. 11 and Jan. 6, prompting the closure of the landfill and diverting of city waste, the affidavit says.

The application names several people as respondents, including Cambria Harris and Melissa Robinson, the daughter and cousin of 39-year-old Morgan Harris. Her remains are believed to be at the Prairie Green landfill just north of Winnipeg, alongside 26-year-old Marcedes Myran.

"If they come in tomorrow and start dragging people out of there … it's just going to infuriate a whole nation," Robinson told Radio-Canada on Tuesday.

"I guess all we can do is wait and see how it goes down tomorrow morning … We're done cooperating."

Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four women, including Harris, Myran as well as Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were discovered by police at the Brady landfill in June of last year.

The location of the fourth and unidentified woman, known as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe or Buffalo Woman, is not known.

In early January, protesters agreed to remove a blockade at the Brady landfill, relocating to another area of the facility and setting up an encampment called "Camp Morgan," which has been maintained through the winter, spring and summer, Gordichuk's affidavit says.