Search for women's remains in landfill rests with Ottawa, Manitoba premier says
CTV
A Manitoba grand chief said Wednesday she will continue to push for a landfill search for the remains of two slain women, despite being rejected by the Manitoba government.
A Manitoba grand chief said Wednesday she will continue to push for a landfill search for the remains of two slain women, despite being rejected by the Manitoba government.
"I hope that the premier and province of Manitoba reconsider their decision," Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Thursday.
"It is a human act of compassion and justice that (the women's) remains be returned to their families for a proper burial at their home community."
Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are believed to have been killed last year in Winnipeg. Police believe the women's remains were left in a garbage bin three days apart in early May 2022 and the contents of the dumpster were sent to the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill north of the city.
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in their deaths, as well as the deaths of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found in another landfill, and an unidentified woman whom Indigenous leaders have named Buffalo Woman. Her remains have not been found.
Some relatives and Indigenous leaders met Wednesday with Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, who said the province cannot support a search that would expose workers to hazardous chemicals with no guarantee that remains will be found.
Stefanson told reporters Thursday the issue is not one of money, but of worker safety.