RCMP told feds it could offer advice to Winnipeg police on landfill search: document
CTV
A newly released document shows the head of the RCMP told Ottawa the national police force could offer guidance to the Winnipeg police on searching a landfill for the remains of two First Nations women.
A newly released document shows the head of the RCMP told Ottawa the national police force could offer guidance to the Winnipeg police on searching a landfill for the remains of two First Nations women.
As anger grew over the initial refusal by the Winnipeg police to search the site, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told federal deputy ministers about some of the ways the Mounties could help -- including by sharing their experience searching the pig farm of serial killer Robert Pickton.
"This is in no way a detailed list or plan but it does provide an overview of some of what we can do in this space," Lucki wrote in a Dec. 16 email, obtained by The Canadian Press through the Access to Information Act.
Winnipeg police had initially decided not to search the Prairie Green landfill, a privately run dump outside the city, for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, whom they believe to be victims of a serial killer.
Jeremy Skibicki, 35, has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris and Myran plus two other women: Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman whom Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
Police had said searching the landfill for the remains of Harris and Myran was not feasible and that the chances of finding them were low, citing the amount of time that had passed as one reason.
Shortly before Lucki sent her email, Indigenous groups in Winnipeg had created their own committee to figure out whether a search was feasible, and called on the federal government to help. The Winnipeg police said on Dec. 14 they would be part of the committee.
