Manitoba woman pledges to keep fighting for murdered mother, other Indigenous women at vigil

WARNING: This story contains details concerning the murders of First Nations women.

Three years after Winnipeg police charged a man in the deaths of three Indigenous women, a daughter of one of the women vowed that she will continue to fight.

“We should not have to gather for this. We should not have to fight for this. This is a basic human right. We shouldn't be standing here doing this [on] this day, but here I am. Here we are again,” Elle Harris told a small group at an outdoor vigil in North Kildonan on Monday evening.

Jeremy Skibicki was charged with first-degree murder on Dec. 1, 2022, in the deaths of Harris’s mother, Morgan Harris, 39, along with 26-year-old Marcedes Myran — both of whom were from Long Plain First Nation, 95 kilometres west of Winnipeg — and a woman given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, whose identity was determined in March of this year to be Ashlee Shingoose, 30, of St. Theresa Point Anisininew.

Skibicki was also accused of killing 24-year-old Rebecca Contois, a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, in May 2022 and disposing of her body in a dumpster.

He was found guilty of first-degree murder in all four women's deaths and received a lifetime jail sentence, with no eligibility for parole for 25 years, in July 2024.

“These were loved ones taken away from us. They have stories and a family and they deserve to be seen,” Elle Harris said.

Morgan Harris's remains were found on Feb. 26 at the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg, which brought some closure to her family and allowed them to hold a proper funeral for her.

But on this solemn anniversary, Elle fought through tears, reminding those present at the vigil that the families of Skibicki’s victims were the ones who pushed for landfill searches at Prairie Green and Brady Road, located south of the Perimeter Highway.

“The reason we hurt so much is because we love so much, and that itself is a blessing hidden in disguise. We flipped what could have been something so tragic to something so meaningful, and that just proves how strong we can be as a community — how as a community we got right back up after we were kicked down time and time again,” she said.

“No was not an answer we were taking, and because we were all able to come together.”

Melissa Robinson, one of Harris’s cousins, was among those at Monday’s vigil.

She said it feels different this year knowing that her cousin’s remains have been found.

“The rush of emotions when you think back to the three years when we were first told about what happened to my cousin and immediately told no [to a landfill search],” Robinson said.