Indigenous leaders say a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of women can be done safely and must go ahead. Activists blockade the main road into the Brady Road landfill, just outside of Winnipeg on Monday, July 10, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski
WINNIPEG – A blockade is down at a Winnipeg landfill where demonstrators have been demanding a different landfill be searched for the remains of two Indigenous women.
Workers with front-end loaders and other machinery, along with police, arrived at the landfill Tuesday morning to begin taking apart the blockade.
Dozens of protesters have blocked the main road to the Brady Road landfill for nearly two weeks, after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the province would not search the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, north of the city, for the remains of two slain Indigenous women.
A Manitoba judge granted a temporary injunction to end the blockade at the Brady Road landfill Friday after the City of Winnipeg argued in court it was causing environmental and safety risks. A city official posted the court order, stapled to a wooden board, at the blockade later that evening.
The judge had said demonstrators could continue to protest at the Brady Road landfill but they could not block the road. They can hand out materials and talk with people passing by, he added.
The Manitoba and federal governments have been sparring over the landfill search.
Stefanson cited safety risks as her main reason for opposing a search of the Prairie Green landfill. She pointed to a federally funded study that said a search could cost up to $184 million, expose workers to toxic material and have no guarantee of success.
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller criticized the province for shirking its responsibilities, while Stefanson accused Miller of politicizing a tragedy.
Experts consulted for the study joined Indigenous leaders and the families of the women Monday, saying risks could be mitigated and the search could be done safely.
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four women, including Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, whose remains are believed to be at the privately run Prairie Green landfill.
He has also been charged in the death of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found last year at Brady Road, and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders are calling Buffalo Woman, whose remains have not been found.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2023.
