Court grants temporary injunction, Winnipeg police authorized to take action at landfill Friday

Tensions continue to rise over demonstrations at a Winnipeg landfill, as a judge ruled Friday afternoon to grant an injunction removing a blockade.

Tensions continue to rise over demonstrations at a Winnipeg landfill, as a judge ruled Friday afternoon to grant a temporary injunction removing a blockade.

Protesters at the Brady Road landfill are demanding officials search another local landfill — the private Prairie Green facility — for the remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

Earlier this week, the City of Winnipeg applied to the Court of King’s Bench, asking the courts to end the blockade and to authorize the arrest and removal of anyone disobeying the order.

While the demonstrators are permitted to continue their protest, the ruling by Justice Sheldon Lanchbery means they’ll have to take down the blockade. Winnipeg police are authorized to commence action as of 6 p.m. and remove anyone who continues to block access to the landfill.

The landfill issue has been a hotly debated topic after the provincial government announced earlier this month that it would not go ahead with a search of the Prairie Green landfill, citing health and safety concerns.

Federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller called Premier Heather Stefanson’s decision “heartless” on Wednesday, with Stefanson firing back and accusing the minister of electing to “inflame and distort” and politicize the tragedy.

Manitoba’s Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew says the province could’ve handled the landfill situation better by working with the families on alternatives.

“I’d want to go back and say, ‘Look, here are some other options. In fact, we’re going to go talk to some other experts, we’re going to get a second opinion,'” Kinew told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg Friday morning.