AFN calls for inquiry into decision not to search landfill

WINNIPEG — Canada’s top First Nations leader is calling for an independent inquiry into the Winnipeg Police Service and former provincial Tory government’s decisions not to search a Manitoba landfill for the remains of two slain Indigenous women.

Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak questioned why there was “pushback” from the WPS in 2022, and resistance from the Progressive Conservatives, under then-premier Heather Stefanson, in 2023.

“We need to look at that as a society. All of us have to look at that and ask why? Why did it take so long (to search)?” Woodhouse Nepinak said in Winnipeg on Thursday. “Why did there have to be such a push? We call for an inquiry into that.”

She spoke at a news conference in Winnipeg, where Albert and Theresa Shingoose, the parents of Ashlee Shingoose, pleaded for a search for her remains at the Brady Road landfill to begin as soon as possible.

Police identified Shingoose, 30, this week as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, one of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in 2022. Investigators learned her identity and the location of her remains after a second interview with Skibicki and additional DNA testing.

Woodhouse Nepinak said the AFN passed a resolution in 2024 from Cathy Merrick, who was the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs’ grand chief when she died last year, to call for an inquiry into the deaths of Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and the woman now known to be Shingoose, with a specific focus on the WPS and Stefanson government.

Non-profit organization Manitoba Moon Voices Inc. also called for a “full, transparent and independent inquiry into the failures of law enforcement and government in responding to MMIWG2S+ cases, particularly the refusal to search landfills.”

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine, a longtime MMIWG2S+ advocate, said there will be a time for those questions to be considered, but the current focus should be the Shingoose family and Brady Road search.

She said Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe and efforts to identify her were on the minds of everyone in the Indigenous community for the last two-plus years.

“She’s everybody’s loved one,” Fontaine said.

In 2022, then-police chief Danny Smyth said the WPS would not search the privately owned Prairie Green Landfill, just north of Winnipeg, for Harris and Myran’s remains, following an internal study that found a successful search and recovery was not feasible.

The WPS cited safety concerns, the passage of time (34 days) before investigators learned the women’s remains were deposited at the site, and the large volume of material that was dumped and compacted over that period.

WPS Chief Gene Bowers said he wants to speak to the affected families before commenting on whether the WPS will make a public apology.

In 2023, Stefanson said her government would not support a search due to safety hazards and there being no guarantee of success.

She cited the findings of an Indigenous-led committee’s feasibility report, which concluded a search was feasible but would come with risks, which could be mitigated, and a chance of success, but no guarantees.

Now in Opposition, the PCs apologized this month for refusing to support the search and running election campaign ads that touted the decision.

The committee’s work laid the groundwork for a search that began last year with $40 million from the provincial NDP and federal Liberal governments.

Excavation of a targeted zone began Dec. 2. Remains belonging to Harris and Myran were found in February. The search continues.

When Shingoose was publicly confirmed to be Buffalo Woman at a news conference Wednesday, Bowers said the service has reviewed its landfill search policy since the 2022 decision regarding Prairie Green.

The intention now “is always we need to try to search,” depending on circumstances, said Bowers, who signalled a willingness to look to outside experts for help.

“We recognize the calls for an inquiry and understand the sensitivities surrounding this issue,” a WPS spokeswoman wrote in an email Thursday. “Over the past three years, we have reflected, learned, and are committed to building stronger relationships with Indigenous communities. At this time, it would be premature to comment further.”

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Tyler Searle