City of Winnipeg did too little to search landfill for women, families say in human rights complaint

The families of two First Nations women whose remains are believed to have been deposited in landfills in the Winnipeg area have filed a human rights complaint against the city, saying not enough was done to find their loved ones.

The complainants behind that filing include Sue Caribou, whose niece Tanya Nepinak went missing in 2011. Police said at the time they believed Nepinak was buried somewhere in Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill and that she was killed by Shawn Lamb, who pleaded guilty to killing two other women but denied killing Nepinak.

A police search at the Brady Road site for Nepinak's remains in 2012 only lasted a few days before it was called off without any evidence being found.

Caribou, who at times spoke through tears about her niece in an interview Thursday, said it felt for her family like "they gave up on her."

She hopes the human rights complaint against the city, which says the police put "futile resources" into finding her niece, sends a message that "our people deserve dignity."

"They deserve to be buried with their loved ones," Caribou said.

The complainants on the human rights filing, which was shared with CBC News, also include family advocate Robyn Johnston and Elle Harris, whose mother, Morgan Harris, was among four Indigenous women murdered by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.

Harris's remains are believed to be at the Prairie Green landfill just outside Winnipeg, where work has begun on a province-led search for her remains and the remains of Marcedes Myran, another woman killed by Skibicki.

The federal and provincial governments each committed $20 million toward searching that landfill for the two women's remains earlier this year.

The latest human rights complaint against the city comes almost a year after others were filed involving the Progressive Conservative Party and the province. Those complaints, filed before the province announced its search plans, centred around PC ads during Manitoba's last provincial election opposing the Prairie Green search and an allegation the current government had failed to allocate resources for landfill searches.

The new complaint also alleges the City of Winnipeg discriminated against Nepinak, Harris and an unidentified woman killed by Skibicki. She was given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by Indigenous leaders when the Winnipeg Police Service decided initially that a search for the women's remains was not feasible.

"This decision exemplifies discriminatory decision-making that condones violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people," the complaint says.

"Their failure to initiate a search sends a clear message to families and survivors that the City of Winnipeg is indifferent to such violence ... and that the City of Winnipeg's responsibility does not extend to Indigenous communities."

Complaint singles out mayor

The complaint also singles out a 2023 Winnipeg city council motion to call on the federal and provincial governments to fund a search of the Prairie Green landfill for Harris and Myran's remains. Mayor Scott Gillingham was on the losing side of the vote on the motion, which ultimately passed.

"I'm going to maintain my position, maybe not everyone will appreciate the nuance of it," Gillingham was quoted as saying in the meeting Hansard from Oct. 26, 2023, when that vote was taken.

"I'll continue to support the families, continue to do all I can as mayor, but the position that I had and maintain is that it's up to the federal and provincial governments ultimately to decide whether or not to search Prairie Green landfill."

The human rights complaint says Gillingham's vote against that motion "sends a message to the public that he does not prioritize the importance of searching the landfill and further reinforces that violence against missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people will not be taken seriously."

Gillingham told reporters Thursday he hadn't yet read the details of the complaint, but said his comments during that vote "were to the effect that, 'I'm not in the habit as mayor of telling other levels of government what to do within their own jurisdiction.'"

The mayor said he also at the time "repeatedly called on the federal and provincial governments to meet with the families to help address their calls and give them [an] audience and hear them out."

A spokesperson said Friday the city is aware of the complaint and has no comment on it.

The complaint also highlights what it characterizes as gaps in the current search process for Harris and Myran's remains, because it will not include searching for either Nepinak or Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe.

That "sends a clear message that the decision to search is based on public scrutiny rather than what is ethical, equitable, just and abiding to the Human Rights Code," the complaint says.

Caribou said she's not ready to accept that her niece's remains won't ever be recovered.

She hopes the human rights complaint will help push for further landfill searches and lead to changes that prevent human remains from ending up in landfills in the future. 

"I'm still the voice for Tanya. We are all the voice for all the missing and murdered," Nepinak said. "Give us some closure."