Landfill search for women’s remains has begun at Prairie Green, north of Winnipeg

Posted on December 2, 2024 by Peggy

The search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran has officially started at Prairie Green landfill, north of Winnipeg.

The dig began Monday morning, Premier Wab Kinew announced at a noon news conference.

“At 10:01 a.m., the first truck carrying landfill material drove down this mountain that is Prairie Green and delivered that first load of landfill material into the search facility,” he said.

Search technicians with rakes and glove-covered hands have been working their way through the material since, Kinew said.

“We found some items that indicate that we are in the right date range and time,” he said, but did not elaborate.

The faces of three First Nations women are pictured side by side. — Left to right: Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois. (Submitted by Winnipeg Police Service and Darryl Contois)

Kinew called Monday’s developments the fourth stage of the landfill project.

Stage 3 happened over the past two months, with 18,900 tonnes of material carved away from the top of the targeted “zone of interest” to prepare for what has now begun — the excavation of another 20,300 cubic metres of material.

“This will be a difficult stage. It could stretch on for a very long period of time,” Kinew said.

“I hope the search concludes quickly, with the result that the families are looking forward to. We can then move on, helping them walk through the next stages of their healing journeys and of grieving their loved ones, who were taken from them in what are some of the worst crimes that we’ve ever seen in the history of our province.”

Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, are assumed to have been dumped at the privately run Prairie Green, in the rural municipality of Rosser, two years ago.

They were killed by Jeremy Skibicki and left in a dumpster near his apartment in Winnipeg.

The garbage collection contract for that dumpster led to Prairie Green, while the target location within the landfill is based on GPS information obtained from garbage trucks.

The provincial and federal governments each committed $20 million earlier this year to fund the search, which the province has said could continue into the new year.

All of the necessary infrastructure, such as hydro lines, trailers with change rooms and lunch areas, roads and parking lots, was completed recently.

A heated building where the landfill materials will be searched through by hand was also built earlier in the year.

Though a feasibility study recommended sifting through debris on a conveyor belt, Kinew said earlier this year that doing a search by hand was the best option, in part because of how wet the garbage will be.

Searchers are expected to work in groups of about 12 to manually spread the lines of debris out with rakes and other tools, and open any bags or packaging, before inspecting it for anything to suggest they’re getting close to garbage from a date range of May 9-21, 2022, such as newspapers or receipts with dates.

That’s when the remains of Harris and Myran, both from Long Plain First Nation just southwest of Portage la Prairie, are believed to have been taken there.

It was two years to the day on Sunday that the Harris family first learned that’s where her remains likely are, Kinew said at the news conference Monday.

“Yesterday … we returned to the site with both the Harris and Myran families and we stood with them in ceremony, and this morning, I was there with two family members as we watched the first blue truck of landfill material come down to the search facility,” Kinew said.

“It is an intense emotion that you feel, standing on that site with those families.”

The province, in partnership with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and the victims’ family members, hired experts such as technicians, engineers, managers and anthropologists, as well as searchers.

Along with training on what to look for, the searchers also got health and safety training due to risks such as asbestos exposure.

Kinew on Monday said asbestos has been encountered and moved safely and without issue.

The families of the women, as well as all others involved, are bound by non-disclosure agreements that prevent them from sharing any information at this stage, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said in a news release last week, asking media to refrain from asking questions.

“This is a deeply emotional and critical process, and the privacy of all involved must be prioritized. Your understanding and co-operation in respecting these requests will ensure that the work proceeds without unnecessary stress or interference.”