Sam Thompson
Manitoba First Nations leaders are calling for the resignation of Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth.
The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC), alongside Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson, asked Smyth to stand down on Thursday, due to the police department’s refusal to search the Prairie landfill. Green searching for the remains of three victims of a suspected serial killer.
Smyth said the remains are likely in the landfill north of town, but no search is planned, in part because of the passage of time and the fact that there is no known starting point for a search.
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The site manager also said that a search would be difficult to the private landfill, due to the constant movement at the site, but said the company was cooperating fully with police and expressed condolences to the families of the victims.
Police said 10,000 truckloads of garbage had been dumped in the area since May, when the murders of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and an unidentified victim, called Buffalo Woman (Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe), allegedly took place. . Waste from the landfill is also compacted with heavy mud to a depth of about 12 meters.
In an interview with 680 CJOB The beginning Thursday morning, before his resignation was called, Smyth said the ability to search the landfill was outside of police expertise.
“The circumstances in Prairie Green are very different from those in Brady (Road Landfill),” the police chief said.
“Brady was in our skill set. Prairie Green isn’t – that would be closer to a very dangerous archaeological dig, and that’s not a skill we have.
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first degree murder in the deaths. He had previously been charged with first degree murder in the death of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found earlier this year at the Brady Road landfill.
“Many communities, organizations and public leaders across the country are calling for a thorough search to be conducted at the Prairie Green landfill,” Long Plain First Nation, the home community of Harris and Myran, said Thursday.
“The families of the three women deserve to have closure. Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe deserve better. Leaders will continue to advocate for them to be found and returned to their homes. »
Wilson of Long Plain will appear with AMC Grand Chief Cathey Merrick at a press conference in Ottawa, where Indigenous leaders and families of victims have called for federal assistance to deal with the situation in recent days , Thursday.
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