Police chief will meet, will not quit Smyth willing to explore possibility of searching landfill By: Erik Pindera Posted: 5:58 PM CST Friday, Dec. 9, 2022

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This article was published 08/12/2022 (746 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth has written to First Nations leaders about the investigation into an alleged serial killer targeting Indigenous women, offering to meet and “discuss the challenges that were encountered” — while rebuffing calls for his resignation.

On Tuesday, police said the remains of Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, were thought to be in the same truckload of collected waste disposed of May 16 at Prairie Green Landfill.

Homicide investigators learned human remains were likely dumped at the site north of the city 34 days later, on June 20, police said.

After examining the potential for a search, Smyth and forensics Insp. Cam MacKid said this week police had determined it would not be feasible, given the passage of time, safety concerns and overwhelming amount of material recently deposited at the site, including 1,500 tonnes of animal remains and 250 t of asbestos.

The women were allegedly killed by Jeremy Skibicki, 35 of Winnipeg, who is also charged with the slayings of Rebecca Contois, 24, in mid-May, and an unidentified woman, who Indigenous elders have named Buffalo Woman, in mid-March. Police are still seeking information on her identity.

On Thursday, Harris’s daughters, Cambria and Kera, along with Manitoba First Nations leaders, called for Smyth to immediately resign from his position due to police not authorizing a search of the landfill.

In a letter provided to media Friday, Smyth told the leaders of Long Plain First Nation, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, Southern Chiefs’ Organization, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Assembly of First Nations he is supportive of further exploration, if it is possible to recover the remains of Myran and Harris.

He also said he will work with whoever is appointed by the Winnipeg mayor to lead such a search.

The chief’s offer, sent through WPS Supt. Bonnie Emerson, to meet with First Nations leaders to discuss the investigation’s challenges still stands.

“I have heard the calls from the families, the Indigenous leadership, and the community. I understand your calls; the pain and sorrow is unimaginable. As the chief of police, I am committed to securing a criminal conviction for these heinous crimes. I want justice for Rebecca, Marcedes, Morgan and Buffalo Woman. I will not be resigning.”

Winnipeg Police Board chairman Coun. Markus Chambers said the board met with Smyth and lead investigators on the case Thursday night, after calls for a search to proceed at Prairie Green in the Rural Municipality of Rosser reached new heights.

Chambers said the next steps will include WPS speaking with Indigenous leaders and elders, forensic anthropologists, waste management and excavation industry leaders to determine who could lead such a search.

“This is outside of the scope and abilities of the Winnipeg Police Service, based on the complexities of the site itself,” Chambers said Friday.

At the request of the city and province, the landfill’s owner stopped operations Thursday, awaiting officials decisions.

Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters he spoke with federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller on Friday.

“If there was to be a search of some sort — and I’m not pre-determining that… we would need federal assistance and federal resources… and (Miller’s) open to that discussion,” said Gillingham, who also sits on the police board.

Gillingham said he has spoken with SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels on the matter, and plans to speak with Long Plain Chief Kyra Wilson.

Harris and Myran were members of Long Plain, about 90 kilometres west of Winnipeg; Contois was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation on the west shore of Lake Manitoba.

“If there was to be a search of some sort — and I’m not pre-determining that… we would need federal assistance and federal resources.”–Mayor Scott Gillingham

Chambers said the board also discussed the differences between Brady Road landfill, on the south edge of Winnipeg, where Contois’s partial remains were found June 14, and Prairie Green.

He confirmed the board discussed the recent calls for Smyth’s resignation, but did not reveal what that conversation entailed.

“I understand how the family feels in terms of not feeling that enough has been done,” Chambers said.

Gillingham said he remains confident in Smyth’s leadership. The mayor added he’s being “very cautious” of the potential for external political pressure on the police service jeopardizing the investigation.

Manitoba NDP MLA Bernadette Smith, whose sister went missing 14 years ago and has been involved in advocacy for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls since, spoke with an anthropologist who told her a search of the landfill could be completed, a party spokeswoman said.

— with files from Malak Abas

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.

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