The long-awaited search of the Prairie Green Landfill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, has been set to begin on December 2^nd, just about two years since Camp Morgan was first set up outside the Brady Road Landfill, the unfortunate site where the partial remains of Rebecca Contois and Linda Mary Beardy were found. 

Camp Morgan, a protest encampment outside the landfill, stands as a call to the Winnipeg Police Service and the Province of Manitoba to search for the missing remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, which are believed to be in the Prairie Green Landfill. As the Province prepares to start the fourth of the five-stage search and excavation plan, this long and painful road for the families and community of the victims is slowly coming to an end.

In August of this year, serial killer Jeremy Skibicki was handed four concurrent life sentences with no chance of parole for twenty-five years. He was convicted of the murders of Harris, Myran, Contois, and an unidentified woman named by Indigenous Elders Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman). 

The exact location of Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe’s body is still unknown and very few details of her case have been made public. To this day, the exact cause of Linda Mary Beardy’s death is unknown, although homicide has been ruled out.

The initial push for searching the landfill was refused by the Province of Manitoba. At the time, Premier Heather Stefanson cited “safety risks” as reason to not meet demands of the families and community. 

In opposition to this, demonstrators organized by the families, community members, and advocates staged a blockade on the road leading to the Brady Road landfill, which quickly but reluctantly moved back after the province’s request for an injunction was approved. Demonstrators also set up another camp outside the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, naming it Camp Marcedes in memory of Marcedes Myran. 

After years of dedication and strength, the families of the victims have finally begun to receive support from the government this year. The new NDP Premier ,Wab Kinew, promised to search the landfill following the trial. 

In March, both the provincial and federal government committed $20 million each toward the search of the landfill. The training will soon begin for the roughly 140 people who applied to work shifts throughout the many weeks of the search. 

First steps will be to excavate and search for the targeted zones where police believe the remains to be located. Premier Wab Kinew has committed to searching the landfill until the remains are found. 

The two women whose bodies remain in the Prairie Green Landfill were daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers, cousins, friends, and much more. 

Morgan Harris was 39 years old at the time of her death. She was a member of Long Plain First Nation and a mother to five children and grandmother to one. Her daughter Cambria says, “she will be remembered as feisty and fun” 

Marcedes Myran, who was 26 at the time of her death, was also a member of Long Plain First Nation, and a mother of two. 

These women deserve to be honoured and respected, they deserve to be returned to their families and given a proper final resting place, not to be left in the landfill.