Landfill search cost one-tenth of estimate: Kinew

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WINNIPEG — The successfully completed search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for two victims of a convicted serial killer cost $18 million — less than one-tenth of the original worst-case estimate, Premier Wab Kinew revealed Wednesday.

A 2023 feasibility study estimated the effort to comb privately owned Prairie Green Landfill north of the city for the remains of the Indigenous women could take up to three years and cost up to $184 million.

“Most importantly, the landfill search was successful at returning Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris,” Kinew said outside his office at the legislature.

The search that began Dec. 2 turned up partial remains of both Indigenous women within a few months. Myran, 26, and Harris, 39, were murdered, along with two other Indigenous women between March and May 2022 by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

His trial heard he targeted the women at homeless shelters and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins.

Two years ago, a federally funded, Indigenous-led feasibility study arrived at the $184-million figure and noted the possible presence of asbestos in the landfill.

Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives seized on the possible cost and risks, making that a key plank in their 2023 election campaign, in which the party, led by then-premier Heather Stefanson, vowed to “stand firm” against a search.

During a televised debate before the election, Stefanson asked then-NDP opposition leader Kinew, “Why are you willing to put $184 million and Manitoba workers at risk for a search without a guarantee?”

Jon Lovlin, a spokesman for the PC caucus, said Stefanson, her interim replacement Wayne Ewasko and now-Leader Obby Khan have all apologized for the campaign “and the harm it caused to the victims’ families.”

Kinew said he made good on his campaign promise.

“The government does what it says. I told the people of Manitoba I was going to search the landfill, that we would do so in a fiscally responsible way and we’ve delivered on that,” he said Wednesday. “That says something good about the province.”

The federal and provincial governments each committed $20 million to the costs.

Kinew said the effort included “the Cadillac-version of health and safety for the workers” with trauma-informed mental-health supports. It involved approximately 45 searchers and required electrical infrastructure and construction of an access road at Prairie Green.

He said that there is still more work to be done decommissioning the search site, potentially adding another $2 million to the final bill.

The remaining work includes cleaning up the site and moving the metal search structure to the city-owned Brady Road landfill, where investigators believe the remains of Skibicki victim Ashlee Shingoose, 30, are located.

“We’re still working on the Brady plan; I haven’t really announced that in any detail yet,” said Kinew, who last week indicated a preliminary search of the facility had begun.

Ground-penetrating radar tests were being conducted to narrow down an area, leading to a proper search that could happen later this year, Kinew said last week.

The province is also making plans to search the Brady facility for the remains of Tanya Nepinak, who investigators believe was slain by a different serial killer. Police searched a small area of the landfill in an effort to find her in 2012 but concluded the effort after a week.

Kinew said there are ongoing conversations with her family about resuming the search.

The premier wasn’t able to say how much the province is budgeting for the Brady landfill search, or if it can use any of the remaining $20 million pledged by the federal government toward it.

At an unrelated event Wednesday, federal Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty said she didn’t know about the search but commended Kinew for committing to it.

“We haven’t had a specific request that I’m aware of,” said Gull-Masty, a Cree MP from Quebec.

“You know, that is probably — as an Indigenous woman — one of the most challenging things to see; that you live in a country where the province has to seek for remains of Indigenous women in a landfill.”

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Nicole Buffie