Indigenous groups are considering their own study into a potential search of a landfill outside Winnipeg for the remains of two women believed to be the victims of an alleged serial killer after police declined to look there.
They are also calling on the federal government to help in their next steps.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Marc Miller, minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, Patty Hajdu, minister of Indigenous Services, and Marco Mendicino, minister of Public Safety, seven First Nations groups laid out their needs in the potential search of the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.
“In lieu of this inaction by the Winnipeg Police Service, we are forced to advocate for loved ones now that trust has been broken by this decision not to search,” the letter reads.
The groups are requesting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to oversee the search. They also want the federal government to provide immediate resources to conduct a feasibility study, fund resources for the families affected, cover costs associated with a search and agree to call in the RCMP if Winnipeg police refuse to search.
Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson said leaders are meeting this week to form a committee of experts to put together a search and budget plan. They are speaking with forensics and archeological experts, as well as landfill operators.
“I’m very positive that we will have the right people at the table to push forward these conversations,” Wilson said in an interview.
They are hoping to present a plan to provincial and federal governments, and request funding.
Police believe the remains of Harris and Myran, who are both from Long Plain but lived in Winnipeg, ended up in the Prairie Green landfill in the spring.
The chances of finding them are low due to time that has passed, as well as the heavy, compacted mud at the site, police have said.
The owner of the private landfill has stopped operations and continues to work with all authorities. Barry Blue, district manager with Waste Connections of Canada, did not say how long the company would pause work at the site.
Wilson, Harris’ family and First Nations leaders expressed outrage over what they called the police’s inaction in searching for the women and called for the chief of police to resign.
Police Chief Danny Smyth, as well as representatives from the city and the province, have offered to meet with Indigenous groups to determine next steps.
After a meeting Monday, the Winnipeg Police Board decided to leave decisions on next steps for a search up to Indigenous groups and federal and provincial governments.
“There has been an open offer for Indigenous leaders to meet with Chief Smyth and his executive to receive a briefing on the health and safety issues associated with conducting a humanitarian recovery search of the remains to the extent it is possible,” Coun. Markus Chambers, who is the board’s chairperson, said in a statement.
Chambers added the board has no further comments on next steps.
The office of Mayor Scott Gillingham said he has been speaking with Indigenous leaders and other levels of government to determine how the city can help, and is “encouraged” by the dialogue between different groups.
Public Safety Canada referred all questions to Winnipeg police.
Police did not respond to requests.
Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran, Rebecca Contois and a fourth unidentified woman that Indigenous leaders have called Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
Police believe the women were killed over a two-month period in the spring, although only Contois’s body has been found.
Her partial remains were discovered in a garbage bin in the city and in another landfill in the spring.
Wilson could not provide a timeline for when a feasibility study could be completed, but said “time is of the essence.”
“It can’t be an extended period of time, just given the fact that we want this to continue to be a priority in terms of conversation and actions moving forward.”
Wilson plans to meet with Smyth on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 13, 2022.
Demands for government intervention in Air Canada labour talks could negatively affect airline competition in Canada, the CEO of travel company Transat AT Inc. said.
“The extension of such an extraordinary intervention to Air Canada would be an undeniable competitive advantage to the detriment of other Canadian airlines,” Annick Guérard told analysts on an earnings conference call on Thursday.
“The time and urgency is now. It is time to restore healthy competition in Canada,” she added.
Air Canada has asked the federal government to be ready to intervene and request arbitration as early as this weekend to avoid disruptions.
Comments on the potential Air Canada pilot strike or lock out came as Transat reported third-quarter financial results.
Guérard recalled Transat’s labour negotiations with its flight attendants earlier this year, which the company said it handled without asking for government intervention.
The airline’s 2,100 flight attendants voted 99 per cent in favour of a strike mandate and twice rejected tentative deals before approving a new collective agreement in late February.
As the collective agreement for Air Transat pilots ends in June next year, Guérard anticipates similar pressure to increase overall wages as seen in Air Canada’s negotiations, but reckons it will come out “as a win, win, win deal.”
“The pilots are preparing on their side, we are preparing on our side and we’re confident that we’re going to come up with a reasonable deal,” she told analysts when asked about the upcoming negotiations.
The parent company of Air Transat reported it lost $39.9 million or $1.03 per diluted share in its quarter ended July 31. The result compared with a profit of $57.3 million or $1.49 per diluted share a year earlier.
Revenue totalled $736.2 million, down from $746.3 million in the same quarter last year.
On an adjusted basis, Transat says it lost $1.10 per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of $1.10 per share a year earlier.
It attributed reduced revenues to lower airline unit revenues, competition, industry-wide overcapacity and economic uncertainty.
Air Transat is also among the airlines facing challenges related to the recall of Pratt & Whitney turbofan jet engines for inspection and repair.
The recall has so far grounded six aircraft, Guérard said on the call.
“We have agreed to financial compensation for grounded aircraft during the 2023-2024 period,” she said. “Alongside this financial compensation, Pratt & Whitney will provide us with two additional spare engines, which we intend to monetize through a sell and lease back transaction.”
Looking ahead, the CEO said she expects consumer demand to remain somewhat uncertain amid high interest rates.
“We are currently seeing ongoing pricing pressure extending into the winter season,” she added. Air Transat is not planning on adding additional aircraft next year but anticipates stability.
“(2025) for us will be much more stable than 2024 in terms of fleet movements and operation, and this will definitely have a positive effect on cost and customer satisfaction as well,” the CEO told analysts.
“We are more and more moving away from all the disruption that we had to go through early in 2024,” she added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
