Tanya Nepinak, missing 14 years, must be included in Winnipeg landfill search: chiefs

First Nations leaders in Manitoba say the search of a Winnipeg landfill for the victim of a serial killer must include recovery efforts for another First Nations woman who went missing more than a decade ago.

Tanya Nepinak was last seen in Winnipeg in September 2011 and police believe her body was dumped in a garbage bin and taken to the Brady Road landfill.

"We need to bring Tanya home," said Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson in a statement Tuesday. "We need all levels of government and the Winnipeg Police Service to come together to discuss a plan to bring Tanya Nepinak home."

Police searched a small portion of the landfill for Nepinak in 2012, but were unsuccessful in recovering her remains and called off the search after a week.

Shawn Lamb was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Nepinak and two other women, Lorna Blacksmith and Carolyn Sinclair. He was convicted of manslaughter in the slayings of Blacksmith and Sinclair. Charges against him in Nepinak's death were stayed.

Nepinak's family holds yearly vigils to honour the mother who had ties to Minegoziibe Anishinabe, formerly known as Pine Creek First Nation, located northwest of Winnipeg.

"Tanya comes from a family of Anishinabe leadership," said Minegoziibe Anishinabe Chief Derek Nepinak in a statement. "The unresolved tragedy remains present in our family, and her children and future generations deserve closure and a path forward."

Manitoba's government has committed to searching the Brady Road landfill for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose, one of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in 2022. Police have said new information led them to believe that Shingoose's remains were taken to the landfill.

Remains of two other women killed by Skibicki — Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran — were recently found at the Prairie Green landfill, north of Winnipeg.

When asked about the possibility of expanding the search to include looking for Nepinak, Premier Wab Kinew said he would be open to speaking with her family, but that logistically, the search at Brady Road landfill would have to take a different approach than the search at Prairie Green.

"It's a different kind of material, different kind of construction," he said. "We're just starting to wrap our heads around some of the different challenges here."

Kinew said discussions about the Brady search are ongoing, and it will take time and further conversations with engineers, forensic anthropologists and other experts to understand how to search the facility.

However, he said the province is "going to try."

The city-run landfill is the same place where the partial remains of Rebecca Contois, another Skibicki victim, were found in 2022.

Details on when a search for Shingoose could start and what it would look like have yet to be determined.

Mike Gordichuk, manager of solid waste services for the city, couldn't speak directly to the Shingoose case, but said garbage trucks going to the landfill are equipped with GPS tracking that provides data on where a load was picked up and where it was dumped at the landfill.

Data from three years ago, when police believe Shingoose was killed, would still be retrievable, said Gordichuk.

"It's very likely that we could narrow or pinpoint within a reasonable distance as to where we think that whatever it is that you're searching for is," he said.

The use of technology at the facility has expanded in the past five years, making it easier to track where refuse is deposited.

Gordichuk was not working with the city when Nepinak disappeared and is unaware of what tracking was done at that time. He couldn't comment on whether a search is feasible.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Nepinak's family deserves answers so they can get closure.