Read full story by Amanda Coletta: Police think a landfill holds women’s bodies. Why won’t they search it?
Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were victims of a serial killer who preyed on indigenous women in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Shortly after they disappeared, police had evidence to believe their remains were within Brady Landfill and Prairie Green Landfill, where another victim Rebecca Contois had been found. With an ongoing refusal to search the landfills for Harris and Myran, the families and communities set up camps outside Brady Landfill and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Since the winter of 2023, they have remained committed to advocating for their loved one’s to be searched for and brought home through demonstrations at the camps, ongoing protests and calls to action.
‘Indigenous women make up 5 percent of women in Canada, but they represented 24 percent of all women homicide victims from 2015 to 2020.
A government-appointed commission said in 2019 that the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls in Canada amounted to a “race-based genocide.”’
Read the full story by Amanda Coletta here:
Washington Post: Police think a landfill holds women’s bodies. Why won’t they search it?
Melissa Robinson, family member of Morgan Harris, wears a pair of earrings of beaded red dresses in solidarity with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirits (MMIWG2S) at Camp Morgan outside Brady Landfill in Winnipeg, Canada. Robinson has continued to fight for justice for Harris and the many MMIWG2S.
Prairie Green Landfill, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Inside a wigwam built by community members at Camp Morgan next to Brady Landfill, a large poster of Morgan Harris hangs amongst other protest signs and messages seeking justice. Harris was targeted and murdered in 2022 and her remains had still not been searched for or found as of September 2023.
John Gonzalez of Pimicikamak, who runs an indigenous media company Standing Bear Networks, sits on the bed he has been sleeping on for three months inside the wigwam onsite at Camp Morgan.
Kyra Wilson, Chief of Long Plain First Nations, visited Camp Morgan at Brady Landfill in support. Wilson has been directly affected by the murders within her own family, and is focusing her priorities on the health and wellness of their community, ensuring that they all have the supports and services Long Plain members need regardless of living within the community or not.
Community members gather for a road blockade at the entrance to Brady Landfill in a demonstration for justice for the search of Morgan Harris’ and Marcades Myran’s bodies.
During this demonstration, a local yelled at one of the protestors about his needs for accessing the landfill for work. In response, one protestor’s words have stuck with me: “My relatives are in there”.
A group of First Nations Indigenous Warriors (FNIW) begin the protest road blockade to Brady Landfill.
Logan Staats of Six Nations is a First Nations Indigenous Warrior (FNIW) who has visited and stayed at Camp Morgan a couple times, despite living out of province. During one of several road blockades, Staats held an orange smoke bomb. The FNIW are a group who self-assembled to take on the responsibility of carrying the burden of peace for their community and future generations and who actively show up to support.
Up the road from Camp Morgan and in front of Brady Landfill, red dresses hang along the fence in memorial and advocacy for MMIWG2S. They were initially hung by the community as one of the earlier demonstrations and calls to action to search the landfills.
Multiple red dresses, signifying the loss of Indigenous women murdered or missing, are on hung on crosses beside Provencher Bridge and Camp Marcedes in Downtown Winnipeg.
Situated next to the Red River, family member Jorden Myran continues to advocate for finding Marcades’ remains through calls to search the Prairie Green Landfill and in her ongoing initiation and advocacy at Camp Marcedes. The end goal is simply to bring Marcedes home.
Jorden Myran outside of Camp Marcedes.
Jorden Myran shares a photo of her loved one, Marcedes.
In the background, a sign on site of Camp Marcedes reads “No More Stolen Sisters”.
Multiple orange ribbons with names and dates of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two Spirits are tied to the Provencher bridge as part of Camp Marcedes actions near the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous People is an ongoing crisis within Canada. Indigenous women are 6x more likely to be a victim of homicide.
#SearchTheLandfills