LETTER FROM MONTREAL
In a few days, a few weeks at the latest, Prairie Green Landfill, the huge open-air dump located north of Winnipeg, in the heart of the Great Plains of Canada, will be scrutinized. Heavy excavation machines, brigades of sniffer dogs and men covered in waterproof suits to protect them from toxic gases and any risk of contamination will track down, in the midst of millions of cubic meters of waste and mud, the tiniest traces bones and organic tissues.
As in the series, “experts” will check, if necessary, whether these samples are likely to belong to two women: Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris. Both officially reported missing, a few days apart, in May 2022. They were 26 and 39 years old respectively.
Two deaths without a body. Two indigenous women, isolated, vulnerable, who lived on the streets or in emergency shelters in Winnipeg, capital of the province of Manitoba, where they were last seen.
Serial killer
Investigators are convinced that they were victims of a serial killer: Jeremy Skibicki, 35 years old at the time of the events, arrested on May 18, 2022 after having murdered an indigenous woman, Rebecca Contois, whose body, this time , has been found. Police also blame him for the murder of another woman, whom they have not been able to identify, but whom the province’s indigenous communities have nicknamed “ Buffalo Woman ». The man will be tried on April 29 in Winnipeg to answer to these four murders.
From the start of the investigation, the police had suggested that the remains of the missing could have been abandoned in the landfill. Judging the research to be too costly and risky in terms of security, they had given up on starting excavations. The families of the victims led a fight of almost two years to win their case: on March 22, the federal government of Justin Trudeau and the Prime Minister of Manitoba, Wab Kinew, the only indigenous person to lead a Canadian province, unblocked the sum of 40 million dollars (27.4 million euros) to search, finally, every centimeter of the site.
“It’s a relief to know that maybe I’ll be able to bring mom home,” said Morgan Harris’ daughter Cambria. She also sees it as an opportunity to offer reparation to an entire community. “It’s about showing women and Indigenous people that we are valuable, that we are loved, and that we are worth wanting,” she explained during a press conference organized in March.
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