Patience key after possible human remains found at landfill, Manitoba premier says

The discovery of possible human remains at a Winnipeg-area landfill — where a search for two murdered First Nations women has been underway for two months — has strengthened everyone's determination but also underscored the need for patience, says Manitoba's premier.

"[We are] trying to ensure that we do every single step here in the most meticulous fashion, so that we can give confidence to the families, if we are moving forward on their healing journey, that it will be in a good way — but also to the public who've been rightfully paying so much attention to this issue that everyone knows that we're doing things in the right way every step of the way," Wab Kinew told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Thursday.

Patience is also required for everyone waiting to learn whether the remains are human, and whose they might be, he said.

"On identification, we're looking at up to two weeks, and that's because it's a joint process with the chief medical examiner and the RCMP. And there are obviously some technical things that need to be worked through," Kinew said.

"Best case scenario, it will move ahead much quicker than that, so we can move on to the next step."

Technicians have been sifting through material at the Prairie Green landfill north of the city since December, looking for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, two of the four women murdered by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.

The families of Harris and Myran, who were both originally from Long Plain First Nation, are expected to be at a news conference Thursday morning to "share their reflections on this significant development and their ongoing fight for justice," says a news release from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

In addition to the murders of Harris and Myran, Skibicki was also found guilty in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24, and a still-unidentified woman who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community leaders.

Contois's partial remains were found in a garbage bin in Winnipeg in mid-May in 2022. More of her remains were found at the city-run Brady Road landfill in June 2022.

On the same morning Contois's remains were found in the Winnipeg garbage bin, the remains of Harris and Myran, in a dumpster a few blocks away, were picked up by a garbage truck, court heard during Skibicki's trial last year.

Activity at the landfill search site was paused following Wednesday's discovery but will resume Thursday, Kinew said.

"That was to make sure that the families had time to get to the site and to go through their process. It's very meaningful and emotionally impactful," he said.

"But also because the RCMP needed time for their process and then to do their transportation and hand-off to the chief medical examiner."

The discovery has made searchers and technicians, many of whom are university students studying to become forensic anthropologists, more determined than ever, Kinew said.