The defenders of the missing and murdered indigenous women, the girls and the people with diverse gender praise the strength and determination of the families of two women of the first nations who fought for the search for a landfill in the Winnipeg area for the remains of their loved ones.
Sheila North, former head of the North Nations of the First Nations Defense Organization, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, said she was flooded with emotion on Friday night, when Morgan Harris’s family and the provincial government confirmed that Harris’s remains had been recovered in the landfill of Prairie Green.
The province said on February 26 that potential remains had been found in the landfill, north of Winnipeg. On Friday night, he confirmed that those were the remains of Harris. The province also said that a second set of human remains had been found there, but the identity of that person has not yet been confirmed.
Talking to CBC Manitoba’s Weekend morning show On Saturday, North was excited when he recognized the love and strength of families who have tirelessly pressured to find the remains of their loved ones and let them rest.
“They took us to a trip that we all needed as a country, not only as a city, but as a nation, to show us that the fight is worth it and that the fight is difficult, but you know, this is what happens when we do not give up,” he said.
“This is a victory for families, for allies, for friends who worked hard, but also for other people who have also maintained the fight all these years.”
Manitoba Prime Minister Wab Kinew said on Saturday that he expects the Harris family to have some sense of closure and healing now that they can celebrate a sacred ceremony to commemorate it.
“Through this trip, we have seen a remarkable strength, resistance and power of Morgan’s family,” he said during a press conference on Saturday afternoon in Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Center in Winnipeg.
He also said he spoke with the Harris family on Friday night, telling them: “Morgan is lucky to have you.”
Look | Manitoba Premier praises ‘notable force’ of the family of Morgan Harris
Speaking to journalists one day after the province confirmed that the remains of Morgan Harris were found in a landfill in the Winnipeg area, Manitoba Prime Minister Wab Kinew praised the resistance and persistence that the family of the murdered woman has shown in her struggle of the years during the search for the landfill.
“I don’t know how many of us we would have had the persistence they have shown in the last two years,” he said.
“I hope we recognize the members of the Morgan and Marcedes family [Myran] How to have been the people who called us to our best nature and do the right thing. “
He said that the second set of remains has not yet been identified, and until then, the search in Prairie Green will continue.
The excavation began in the private landfill in December, as part of the search for the remains of Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, both of Long Plain First Nation.
They were among the four women of the first nations, along with Rebecca Contois, 24, of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi, a woman still unidentified given the name of Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or a woman from Buffalo, who was killed by the serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in Winnipe in early 2022.
He was sentenced last July for four first degree murder positions.
Although it was believed for a long time that the remains of Harris and Myran had stayed in a Winnipeg garbage container and taken to the landfill after they were killed in May 2022, both the Winnipeg police and the former progressive conservative government of Manitoba argued against the search for the sanitary landfill, citing security concerns and the viability of a search.
North called that decision as “cruel”, and said they hope that those involved in denying the search will be reflected and work to make peace with families and communities hurt by their actions.
Earlier this week, Wayne Ewasko, the interim leader of the PCs now opponents, extended an apology in the Manitoba Legislature for the decision of the conservative government, which became part of the provincial elections of 2023 that led to the defeat of the party. The NDP, who won the elections, had promised a search during the campaign.
In a statement sent by email to CBC on Saturday, Ewasko extended “deepest condolences to the family and friends of Morgan Harris”, and said that he hopes that confirmation “will begin to contribute the closure of the family and this tragic chapter in the history of our province.”
A statement sent by email to CBC on behalf of Gene Bowers, who was announced on Friday as the incoming chief of the Winnipeg Police Service, offered condolences to the families of the victims of Skibicki and “all families waiting for their disappeared loved ones.”
Bowers said as a boss that he wants the police service “to become leaders under reconciliation” and “the first step in that trip will be … [speaking] Directly with the Harris and Myran families and their respective support in the indigenous community before a public comment is made. “
CBC News has also communicated with former Manitoba Prime Minister Heather Stefanson, to comment.
CBC could not reach the former Winnipeg police chief, Danny Smyth.
The Minister of Indigenous Relations of Corona and Affairs of the North, Gary Anandasangaree, said in a statement on Saturday that the federal government “remains committed to our association with Manitoba as the search continues for Marcedes Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman).”
A bittersweet victory: lawyer
Sandra Delande, who was among indigenous leaders and defenders who He urged the Federal Government to finance a search for landfillsHe said that the remains would not have been discovered without a collective effort, including the Federal Liberal Government and the current provincial government, which supported the search.
“I think that for the rest of Canada and the rest of the world, they now know how indigenous women, girls and people with various gender have to fight for their lives and fight for equity every day,” said Delande.
He also said that bittersweet victory is an opportunity for governments to review the steps they are taking to help protect marginalized and vulnerable people, and commit to the 231 calls to the justice of the final report of the 2019 national research on indigenous women and girls missing and killed.
Many families, including those of Myran, Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe and Tanya Napinak, a woman from Pine Creek First Nation whose remains were sought without success in Winnipeg’s Brady Road landfill in 2012, he is still waiting for the closure, Delande said, and the discovery of humans’s remains can go to the search for families who are still looking for families.
Look | The lawyer says that Morgan Harris ‘finally returned home’:
WARNING: This video contains details about the murders of the women of the first nations. Sandra Delande, a defender of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls and the people of two spirits, says that the confirmation of the remains of Morgan Harris in a landfill outside Winnipeg is the result of the hard work of mannitobans who believe in human rights, but more measures are required to protect the vulnerable. Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/1.7478514 Crisis support is available for any person affected by these reports and the question of disappeared indigenous persons and killed through a national direct line of 24 hours to 1-844-413-6649.
Hilda Anderson-Pyrz, president of the National Family Circle and Survivors, said that when she listened to the discovery in Prairie Green, she immediately thought of Harris’s children and her struggle of more than two years to give her mother an adequate burial.
“I just want them to feel supported by the community and know that they are loved and that the community will surround them … during this moment very difficult while bringing their mother home,” said Anderson-Pyrz.
She asked Manitobans to think about what they would do if her mother, daughter, sister, aunt or grandmother were on the landfill.
“You would do everything in your power to make sure that your loved one was brought home and buried in the ceremony,” he said.
Anderson-Pyrz echoed the need for the action of governments to protect vulnerable groups, including support spaces as shelters to avoid cases like this, where a serial killer took advantage of vulnerable indigenous women, of happening.
The crisis support is available for any person affected by these reports and the issue of disappeared indigenous people and killed through a 24-hour national line of 1-844-413-6649.
Health support services such as mental health advice, community -based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see the elderly and traditional healers are available through the Canada government. Family members seeking information about a disappeared or murdered being can access Family Information Link Units.
