Leaked report on searching landfill for women's remains shares how 60,000 tonnes of material could be examined

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

A search through as much as roughly 60,000 tonnes of materials for the remains of two First Nations women at a landfill near Winnipeg could involve moving thousands of truckloads of garbage, hiring dozens of staff to sift through it on a conveyor belt and setting up a temperature-controlled storage unit to secure any possible remains found, a leaked report says.

The 55-page report was posted online by a relative of Morgan Harris — one of two women whose remains police believe are at the Prairie Green landfill — more than a month after the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs held a news conference sharing the broad strokes of the document. 

The report was prepared by a committee that studied whether it would be feasible to search for the women's remains.

It outlines a plan to hire more than 40 staff, including managers, elders and knowledge keepers, a forensic anthropologist and as many as 28 technicians to conduct the search for Harris and Marcedes Myran, who police said late last year they believe were among four victims of an alleged serial killer.

Myran's grandmother, Donna Bartlett, said she was never given a reason why the report couldn't be released in the first place. And over a month after its findings were shared with the public, she said she's hurt and angry that there's still been no action.

"Nothing is happening — nothing," Bartlett said. "Nobody's given me an update."

Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 39-year-old Harris, 26-year-old Myran, 24-year-old Rebecca Contois and a fourth unidentified woman, whom community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.

Contois's partial remains were found last year in Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill. Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe's remains have not been found.

Skibicki's trial is scheduled to begin in April 2024.

At its update last month, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the feasibility study committee decided using a conveyor belt to look through debris would be the best option for the search.

The full report sheds more light on the details of that plan, including that the conveyor belt would be housed inside a roughly 23,000-square-foot structure built at the landfill site, which would ensure efforts can continue in any weather.

Search technicians would work in groups of about 10 to sift through the material as it moves down the line, the report says.

The specific section of the landfill that would be searched holds 61,200 tonnes of materials, which could translate to anywhere between 2,880 and 7,200 loads, depending on which kind of truck is used.