By The Canadian Press
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew speaks to the media at a search facility site with families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, at a landfill just north of Winnipeg, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods)
Manitoba’s premier says he has spoken with the family of an Indigenous woman murdered by a serial killer, and he hopes the confirmation that her remains have been found during a search at a Winnipeg landfill helps them move forward.
“For so long now, years now, her journey to the next phase with her family being able to grieve her, lay her to rest, have a funeral or however they want to remember (her), has been on hold and disrupted and made the subject of so much public scrutiny,” Wab Kinew told reporters at an event Saturday at an Indigenous resource centre.
“To me, it’s about a grieving family and healing for them.”
A statement from the Manitoba government late Friday confirmed that remains found during a search of the Prairie Green landfill were those of 39-year-old Morgan Harris.
The government statement said another set of remains was part of the recovery, and more information would be provided as facts are confirmed.
The search of the landfill for Harris, as well as another victim, Marcedes Myran, began in December and has been contentious, but Kinew said in the end government did the right thing by moving forward with it.
“I feel that Manitobans and Canadians have shown their true nature. It wasn’t easy to get to this point, but at the end of the day we did come together to do right by these families,” Kinew said.
Jeremy Skibicki was convicted last year of first-degree murder in the slayings of Harris, Myran and two other Indigenous women.
In a statement posted on social media on Saturday, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak offered condolences to Harris’ family, saying the victims of Skibicki were entitled to respect and dignity in death.
“For the three long years, these families have carried an unimaginable burden, fighting for the recovery of their loved ones. They should never have had to fight this hard,” Woodhouse Nepinak said.
Families of the women and Indigenous leaders in the province advocated for years for a search of the landfill, taking their fight to Parliament Hill and the Manitoba legislature.
Police refused to search the site over safety concerns. The Progressive Conservative government at the time also said it wouldn’t support a search, and during the 2023 provincial election campaign the party touted that decision.
Kinew pledged there would be a search and, after his NDP were elected, the province and the federal government put up $20 million to fund one.
Ross Gardner, a crime scene consultant in the United States, had told The Canadian Press two years ago that a search could succeed but would require a monumental effort due to the passage of time and the compacting process at the landfill.
Gardner commended the searchers on Saturday, and noted the confirmation of Harris’ remains indicates that whatever strategy they’re using is working.
“Now they’ve got an area they can at least concentrate on. That is intelligence in and of itself that, hey, we’re in the right ballpark,” Gardner said in an interview.
The murder trial heard that Harris, a member of Long Plain First Nation, had been living in Winnipeg before she was last seen on May 1, 2022.
It heard Skibicki targeted the women at homeless shelters in Winnipeg and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins in his neighbourhood.
The remains of Rebecca Contois were found in a garbage bin and at a different landfill. Those of an unidentified woman Indigenous grassroots community members named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, have not been found and police have not said where they might be.
Winnipeg’s former police chief, Danny Smyth, retired in September. His successor, Gene Bowers, was announced on Friday and he said in a statement that the department’s thoughts go out to the families of the victims, as well as “all families who are awaiting word on their missing loved ones.”
“On Monday, March 10, 2025, my appointment as Chief of Police will take effect, and I intend to action my vision for the Winnipeg Police Service to become leaders in reconciliation,” Bowers said in the statement.
— By Rob Drinkwater in Edmonton, with files from Brittany Hobson.
