Daughter of slain First Nations woman Morgan Harris walks out of meeting with minister

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Cambria Harris walked out of a meeting with a federal minister Monday morning, she said, after the government came with questions about feasibility rather than a firm commitment to search a Winnipeg landfill for her mother's remains.

The bodies of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are suspected to be in the Prairie Green Landfill, a private facility north of the city, and families have been demanding authorities search the site for months.

Police have said the women were dumped in landfills after they were killed by an alleged serial killer.

Harris told a rally in Ottawa it was retraumatizing for Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Gary Anandasangaree to invite the families to a meeting on Monday without bringing anything new to the table.

"I actually ended up walking out of the meeting because of the amount of just disrespect that my family has been shown," Harris told CBC News.

She added that the experience shows the Canadian government doesn't take missing and murdered Indigenous women seriously.

Anandasangaree, in a statement provided by his acting communications director, called the situation "heart wrenching" and urged all partners, including the Government of Manitoba, to come to the table collaboratively.

The House of Commons resumed sitting for the fall on Monday. Harris meanwhile stood outside in the building's shadow, decrying complacency and jurisdictional squabbling.

"It's clear that reconciliation is dead, because we're still sitting here 10 months later in these rooms with different politicians of all levels of government explaining my story over and over, begging them to find my mother," said Harris, 22, a member of Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba.

"That's a sad, sad statement to make."

People in at least 17 cities were scheduled to rally as part of Monday's day of action, organized by the Harris and Myran families and supported by organizations like Amnesty International.

In Ottawa, cries of "Bring them home" and "Search the landfill" rang out as speakers addressed a crowd of about 100 people, many clad head to toe in red, gathered by Parliament Hill's centennial flame.

Jordan Myran, sister of Marcedes Myran, addressed the crowd briefly, thanking them for continuing to support the cause.