Slain woman's daughters demand search after police say remains of 2 women likely at dump north of Winnipeg

WARNING: This story con‐ tains distressing details.

The daughters of Morgan Harris — one of four women police allege were killed by a Winnipeg man — say police told them their mother's re‐ mains are believed to be at a landfill north of the city, not the Brady Road landfill.

But at a Tuesday news conference, Winnipeg police said due to a number of fac‐ tors, they made the deci‐ sion not to search the Prairie Green Landfill for remains.

Winnipeg police Chief Dan‐ ny Smyth confirmed that in‐ vestigators believe the re‐ mains of Morgan Harris — along with those of Marcedes Myran, another homicide vic‐ tim — are at the Prairie Green Landfill, just north of Win‐ nipeg's Perimeter Highway.

"This is not how we want‐ ed it to end, and my heart goes out to the families ex‐ pecting and hoping for a dif‐ ferent outcome," Smyth said at the afternoon news confer‐ ence in Winnipeg.

"We acknowledge that a lot of people are angry, and we're doing our best to bring justice for the families."

Earlier in the day, Kera and Cambria Harris said they were told by police on Mon‐ day that their mother's re‐ mains are believed to be at Prairie Green, and officers gave them a PowerPoint pre‐ sentation, explaining why they won't search there.

"They say that they can't search because it's not feasi‐ ble. Is human life not feasi‐ ble?" Cambria said at a news conference in Ottawa on Tuesday.

"Time and time again, our Indigenous women and brothers and sisters have to come here, and we have to shout and we have to raise our voices begging for change and begging for justice for our people, and that is wrong."

WATCH | Sisters call for government, police action to find mother's remains:

Cambria and her sister Kera travelled from Winnipeg to Ottawa with a number of First Nations advocacy orga‐ nizations to demand help from the federal government to address the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered In‐ digenous women, girls and two-spirit people.

Police said last week they believe Morgan, who was from Long Plain First Nation but living in Winnipeg, was killed by Jeremy Skibicki. Her remains haven't been found.

Skibicki was charged in May with first-degree mur‐ der in the death of Rebecca Contois, 24, another First Na‐ tions woman living in Win‐ nipeg. Her partial remains were found at the Brady Road landfill.

On Thursday, police said he's also charged with firstdegree murder in the deaths of Morgan, Myran, who was also from Long Plain, and an unidentified woman whom community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ik‐ we, or Buffalo Woman.

Police explain why they won't search landfill

While police don't yet know where Buffalo Woman's remains are, they do believe Morgan and Myran's are at Prairie Green.

But at Tuesday's news conference, Smyth said po‐ lice made the "very difficult decision" not to search that landfill, after determining it wouldn't be feasible.

Insp. Cam MacKid said he and his team with the Win‐ nipeg Police Service's foren‐ sics, intelligence and technol‐ ogy department were ap‐ proached on June 20 by mem‐ bers of the homicide unit, af‐ ter they said they thought ad‐ ditional human remains were disposed of at that landfill.

MacKid, who was involved in searching the Brady Road landfill for Contois, said police became aware that the re‐ mains were dumped at Prairie Green more than a month af‐ ter it's believed that hap‐ pened.

"At that point, about 10,000 loads of debris were dumped subsequent to the load we were interested in," he said at the news coner‐ ence.

In addition, 1,500 tonnes of animal remains were de‐ posited in that 34-day time frame.

MacKid said the garbage truck they believe was carry‐ ing the remains wasn't equipped with GPS to help in‐ vestigators pinpoint the area of the landfill to search, and the garbage was later com‐ pacted with 9,000 tonnes with wet, heavy construction clay.

Searching the Brady Road landfill was a challenge, but one that made sense to un‐ dertake at the time, MacK‐ id said, because police were able to pinpoint the general area Contois's remains might be. Within five hours, they were able to stop trucks from dumping additional refuse.

In that case, no construc‐ tion clay was deposited on the area.

MacKid also said the search could be dangerous, due to factors like potentially poisonous gases released at the landfill by decomposing waste and asbestos.

'Why haven't you asked for help?'

But Morgan's daughter Kera said police should do whatever it takes to find the remains of the women.

"If you can't find them, then why haven't you asked for help? Why can't you ask for help nationwide rather than just having a small amount of people conduct the searches?" she said at the Ottawa news conference.

Community members are willing to offer help, she said.

"How can you even fath‐ om the idea to leave them there? These women are de‐ serving of a proper resting place, not to be left alone in a landfill in the dead of winter."

Cambria says her mother deserves a home.

"My mother didn't pass away with a home, so let's pay her the respect that she deserves by finally giving her one."

Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said all levels of government have failed Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people for centuries.

"I think as we recognize the failure of the federal gov‐ ernment to keep these women safe, it's important to realize that there are women today that are in the same vulnerable place that these women were, and that contin‐ ues," he said at the news con‐ ference.

He is scheduled to meet with Morgan Harris's family on Tuesday, as well as the chief of Long Plain First Na‐ tion, to discuss what supports the federal government can provide.

WATCH | The full news conference in Ottawa on Dec. 6:

Support is available for anyone affected by details of this case. If you require sup‐ port, you can contact Ka Ni Kanichihk's Medicine Bear Counselling, Support and El‐

der Services at 204-594-6500, ext. 102 or 104 (within Win‐ nipeg), or 1-888-953-5264 (outside Winnipeg).

Support is also available via Manitoba Keewatinowi

Okimakanak's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison unit at 1-800-442-0488 or 204677-1648.