'High-risk' search of Manitoba landfill for remains feasible, says forensic anthropologist who led study
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
A forensic anthropologist who led a study on a proposed search of a Manitoba landfill for the remains of two First Nations women is confident it can be done, with precautions to protect searchers from risks such as exposure to toxic gases and asbestos.
"The humanitarian recovery of two victims of homicide" is important "for the government to consider as a priority," Emily Holland, an associate professor of anthropology at Brandon University, told CBC in an interview.
"It's possible and feasible to search the landfill."
Holland co-chaired the technical subcommittee of a feasibility study that was commissioned by an Indigenous-led committee after police said they would not search the Prairie Green landfill site, north of Winnipeg, for the remains of Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26.
The study concluded a search is feasible but there would be no guarantee of finding the remains of the women, who Winnipeg police say are victims of an alleged serial killer.
"The method that's proposed in this feasibility study is one that the committee really thought hard and long on," Holland said. "We wanted to propose a method that we thought would have the highest probability of recovery."
Citing dangers to searchers highlighted in the feasibility report, Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government said last month it wouldn't support a search of the landfill.
The federal Liberal government funded the feasibility study but has made no firm commitment to pay for a search, which the report said could cost between $84 million and $184 million and take one to three years.
Family members of Harris and Myran say their loved ones shouldn't be left in a landfill.
"I would like them to go and dig," said Myran's grandmother Donna Bartlett, who sat on the technical subcommittee.
"Start digging and find the women. Find them and bring them home."
She says the report addresses how to deal with landfill hazards.
"It is dangerous … but there [are] are safety measures they can take."