Memorial for victims of Winnipeg serial killer helps families close painful chapter after sentencing hearing
CBC
One day after a Winnipeg serial killer was sentenced to life in prison for murdering four women, the families gathered for a memorial ceremony designed to close this emotional chapter of their lives.
Stephanie Contois, the sister of Rebecca Contois, one of the four women who were murdered in 2022, was credited for requesting the memorial and asking the other families to attend.
More than 150 people, including family members, friends and many of the people who've supported the families through their grief, attended the memorial Wednesday at the Oodena Circle at The Forks.
"It's been a very, very long two years of fighting and it hasn't been easy but with you guys behind us, it's been a little bit better," Jordan Myran, the sister of Marcedes Myran, one of the victims, told the crowd.
"Yesterday was a very emotional day, and although he got life, he deserves a lot more than what he got."
On Wednesday, Jeremy Skibicki received an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
WATCH | Families read impact statements at sentencing:
The serial killer was escorted to prison after relatives and advocates told him, along with a packed courtroom, how the killings of Contois, Myran, Morgan Harris — three First Nations women — and an unidentified Indigenous woman who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, shattered their lives.
Advocate Sandra DeLaronde, who works for Giganawenimaanaanig — formerly known as the MMIWG2S+ Implementation Committee, said Thursday's ceremony will support the families' journey going forward.
"I think that's where ceremony is important because unless you have something that moves you from one place to the next, then you are going to have difficulty moving forward," she said afterwards.
It was a chance to both acknowledge the loss, pain and suffering they've endured, but also to share in the promise and hope of tomorrow, DeLaronde said. "And absolutely it's going to be difficult, but they can remember this day and help them to go forward."
The memorial included various components meant to "represent an integration of a good life," including a tobacco offering, a fire ceremony, pipe-raising ceremony and a water-raising ceremony, DeLaronde said.
It's "what we need to sustain us to live a good life," she said.
"And so by presenting them today, it's to help the families to move forward to live a good life with good thoughts and memories of their loved ones."
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