Province 'on track' for Prairie Green landfill search, has started hiring staff: premier

WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.

The province is ready to begin the search of a Winnipeg-area landfill in October for the remains of two women who were victims of a serial killer, Manitoba's premier said Thursday.

At an unrelated news conference, Wab Kinewsaid the province is "on track" to start the search this fall of a targeted area at the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg,where the remains of Morgan Harris and Marceded Myran are believed to be.

The plan includes sifting through garbage removed from a total area about 100 by 200 metres or about four football fields and to a maximum depth of about 10 metres, the province previously said.

Kinew said the province has also begun the hiring process to staffthe landfill search. He said he'll visit the site on Friday to "put eyes on the project at hand."

Meanwhile, the premier said he's alsobriefed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was in the city this week, with a "detailed update" on the status of the search.

The women's remains are believed to have been taken to the landfill north of Winnipeg after they were murdered by Jeremy Skibicki in the spring of 2022.

Skibicki was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder on July 11 of killing three First Nation women Harris, 39, Myran, 26, and Rebecca Contois, 24 as well as an unidentified woman who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community leaders.

WATCH | Family members deliver impact statements at killer's sentencing:

Family members speak after sentencing hearing for serial killer

7 days ago

Duration 0:15

Jorden Myran and Donna Bartlett, sister and grandmother of Marcedes Myran, one of the four women murdered by Jeremy Skibicki, talk about an emotional day in court, listening to victim impact statements.

Advocates, including the families of Harris and Myran, had been pleading for a search since Winnipeg police announced in late 2022 that Skibicki, who already faced a first-degree murder charge in Contois's death, was charged with the other three killings as well.

A search of the Prairie Green landfillwasinitially deemed unfeasible by Winnipeg policeand was laterthe focus of campaign advertisingby the then governing Progressive Conservativesin Manitoba's last provincial election.

However, two reports determined a search is feasible, and earlier this year, Kinew's NDP government and the federal government each committed $20 million to the search.

The premier said he called the family members of the women after they delivered their impact statements at a sentencing hearing for Skibicki on Wednesday.

Dozens of relatives and community advocates spoke in vivid detail about how the killingschanged their lives forever, sending shock waves across the country.

"They did an important service for the public in helping to put on the permanent record just how awful these crimes were," Kinew said.

"They did something important for the future of our province and for the future of our country."

Killer should 'never be free again': Kinew

Skibicki will serve four concurrent life sentences, with no chance of parole for 25 years the prescribedpenalty under the law for first-degree murder.

While the law requires that Skibickibe eligible for parole in 25 years,any parole hearings in the future should take into account the impact the killings have had on family members and others, said Kinew.

"This person can never be allowed to see the light of day as a free person in our country again," he said.

"The crimes that were committed, the terrible actions which are now part of this person's vocabulary, means that they can never be free again, and I'm not entertaining exceptions to that."

A previouslawthat allowed for consecutiveparole ineligibility meaning the 25-year periods could be stacked in cases of multiple murders was struckdown by the Supreme Court in 2022.

The trial heard Skibicki targeted his victims at homeless shelters, then strangled or drowned them before disposing of their remains in garbage bins.

While the admitted to the killings, his lawyers said he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental illness. A Manitoba Court of King's Benchjudge rejected that argument.

Support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.

You can also access, through the government of Canada,health support servicessuch as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can accessFamily Information Liaison Units.