Supporters hold their ground at Winnipeg landfill blockade as noon deadline to leave passes

Dozens of people outside Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill have built barricades and are signalling their unwillingness to leave, despite a noon deadline from the city to vacate the area and the possibility of legal action.

Cambria Harris, whose mother's remains are believed to be in the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg, is one of the people who called for the blockade to be erected and for others to join the demonstration at the Brady Road landfill.

The blockade of the city-run Brady Road landfill began Thursday after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said the province would not support a search of the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill north of the city, where the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were believed to have been dumped last year.

"When you say you won't move forward with the search, you're telling my community that it's OK and that you condone the continuous dumping of Indigenous women," Harris said in an interview on Monday.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in those deaths, as well as in the death of Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were found last year at Brady Road, and an unidentified woman whom Indigenous leaders are calling Buffalo Woman and whose remains have not been found.

Late last week, the City of Winnipeg delivered an order to demonstrators to vacate the area by noon Monday, but chief administrative officer Michael Jack said at a news conference at the deadline time that the city wouldn't move to remove people forcibly.

"We're going to evaluate what further discussions might be had today … and if we can't reach a resolution, then we'll need to escalate our own efforts. That very likely means applying to court," Jack said.

There are environmental hazards, such as toxic materials leaching into the soil, tied to any disruption in landfill operations, Jack said.

He said the city could soon be at risk of violating its environmental licences and polluting the surrounding area.

The city hasn't applied for an injunction yet, but that's something the municipality is "strongly considering," Jack said.

'Fighting for a cause'

The push to search the Prairie Green landfill has gone on for months, and the federal government funded a study this year that concluded a canvass of the site is feasible.

The study warned that there are risks due to exposure to toxic chemicals and asbestos. The search could take up to three years and cost $184 million with no guarantee of success. However, the report also said forgoing a search could be more harmful for the women's families.

That includes Cambria Harris.

"We're fighting for a cause. We're fighting to get these women home. Why are you so against that? Why will you not even acknowledge the families and their cries and their pleas?" Harris said. "It's quite frankly disrespectful."

Harris's aunt, Melissa Robinson, said what's happening is not acceptable.

"We're talking about our women laying in landfills. You don't put a dollar on that — absolutely not. I don't care if it costs $200 million, $300 million, they need to go and get them. I'm not going to have my nieces go sit at a landfill to visit their mom for the rest of eternity. It's wrong."

Jack said the landfill needs its main entrance back up and running because the back entrance isn't reliable and is impassable when there is a severe weather event, like the one that prompted the Friday closure of the landfill.

Although a city spokesperson said at the time that the closure was due to the blockade, Jack clarified Monday that heavy rains on Thursday night washed out the only remaining road to the dump, and it took a few days to repair.

WATCH | Family members of murdered women confront premiers: 

Premiers face Indigenous anger over search for remains in Winnipeg landfill

1 year ago

Duration 2:05

Family members of the women whose remains police believe are in a Winnipeg-area landfill brought their anger to the annual premiers meeting in Winnipeg. The families want the landfill searched, underlining that their relatives' remains are not trash.

The federal government still hasn't confirmed whether it will pay for a search of the Prairie Green Landfill, but a spokesperson for the office of the minister of Crown-Indigenous relations said Monday that they have received the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' proposal for excavation and are reviewing it.

Demonstrators go to premiers' meeting

Some members of the group of demonstrators at the dump moved to the Leaf — a conservatory in Assiniboine Park, where Manitoba's premier is hosting officials from seven provinces — on Monday afternoon.

Carrying drums and a megaphone, the people named missing women and chanted, "We are not trash," while demanding Stefanson reverse her decision.

After speeches were made by members of the group, they left peacefully.

WATCH | 'We are not trash' chants fill The Leaf: 

Demonstrators go to The Leaf to call on Manitoba premier to search landfill

1 year ago

Duration 1:18

A group of people went to The Leaf, where Premier Heather Stefanson was hosting officials from seven provinces, to call on her to search a landfill north of Winnipeg for the remains of two First Nations women. Stefanson has previously said she wouldn't support a search because of the hazards involved, but Cambria Harris suggests the premier didn't fully read the feasibility report.

The remains of Sue Caribou's niece, Tanya Nepinak, are believed to have been dumped at the Brady Road landfill in 2011, but none were found following a six-day search by police.

Caribou wants to see all landfills searched for the remains of missing Indigenous women.

"We want our loved ones home. We want closure," she said.

"No human being belongs in the trash."