Protestors gather in St. John's to demand search of Manitoba landfill for women's remains

Around 50 people gathered at Confederation Building in St. John's on Saturday to demand the search of a landfill in Manitoba where the remains of two missing Indigenous women are believed to be buried. 

"It needs to be done, we need to stop dehumanizing Indigenous women," said Faye Joseph, a member of Memorial University's Circle of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Students, and the lead organizer behind the protest.

"It has to be done for reconciliation to happen."

Protests have been spreading across the country, with Saturday's rally the latest public call for a search of the privately-run Prairie Green landfill.

The push for a search began last December, when Winnipeg police said they believed the remains of both Morgan Harris and Mercedes Myran were taken to the landfill. Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in their deaths, as well as in the killings of Rebecca Contois and an unidentified woman community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. Skibicki's trial is scheduled for 2024.

The police decided it wasn't feasible to search the landfill and last month, Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said her government would not support a search either, citing dangers to searchers from exposure to toxic materials. 

"Police have searched landfills for white men in the past and so we don't know why they won't do the same for Indigenous women," Joseph said. "It's just so undeniable, comparing it to other cases, that this is a fact, it's racism."

Joseph said it was important to gather together to show the women's lives mattered.

"They were important and they were loved. The remains of Morgan, Mercedes and Buffalo Woman are still in the garbage dump. Their families cannot mourn them because they were brutalized and thrown out like trash by a serial killer who targeted Indigenous women," said Joseph.

"He knew how we are perceived by the non-Indigenous public and that we are more often in vulnerable positions in society due to generational trauma.… He was using the invisibility of Native women to slaughter our sisters."

Joseph said it is important for support and protests to happen across the country.

"Showing support here on the most eastern part of Canada, from coast-to-coast, it shows that this is such a huge issue and that the government needs to pay attention and they need to take action."

Those comments were echoed by Claire Hulan-Beck, who assisted in organizing the protest.

"It's easy to distance ourselves from such events because they seem so far away, and it's easy enough to say that it doesn't involve us," Hulan-Beck said.