Miles Morrisseau
ICT
The notorious Brady Landfill has finally been shut down after workers discovered yet another body of an Indigenous woman at the Winnipeg, Canada, facility.
The landfill has been the focal point of an investigation surrounding the case of a serial killer who targeted Indigenous women in the city of Winnipeg and the target of protesters who have demanded police pause the operation to conduct a full search of the site.
The latest body was discovered Monday, April 3, by workers in an area considered an active section of the landfill and is not believed to be related to the other missing women, according to the Winnipeg Police Services.
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A Winnipeg man, Jeremy Skibicki, has been charged with murder and he remains in custody in the deaths of four Indigenous women, including one woman whose partial remains were found at the Brady Landfill.
Police said the latest remains appear to have been brought to the landfill recently in a garbage truck.
“From the information that we’re getting, from the time that these remains were left at or located at the Brady Landfill was probably a matter of a couple of hours,” Inspector Shawn Pike said during an April 4 press conference.
The Winnipeg Police Services was notified about 3 p.m. on Monday, April 3, that the body had been discovered. The area was immediately closed off, Pike said.
The deceased has been identified as Linda Mary Beardy, 33, Lake St. Martin First Nation in north-central Manitoba, who had been living in Winnipeg.
“We have no information to suggest that there are any other victims or that this investigation is related to any previous incidents,” Pike said.
Skibicki is charged with the murder of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg during a three-month period from March 15, 2022, to early May. The women appear to have been targeted because they were Indigenous, their remains were put into garbage bins and are believed to have been dumped at the city’s landfills, though not all of the remains have been found.
Police believe an unknown woman given the name Buffalo Woman is believed to have been killed on or about March 15. Three other Winnipeg victims have been identified as Morgan Beatrice Harris, 39, Long Plain First Nation, who is believed to have been killed on or about May 1; Marcedes Myran, 26, also Long Plain First Nation, who is believed to have been killed on or about May 4; and Rebecca Contois, 24, O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, whose partial remains were discovered on May 16 in the 200 block of Edison Avenue in Winnipeg.
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Police are still searching for the remains of Harris, Myran and the unidentified Buffalo Woman.
On May 18, Winnipeg police arrested 35-year-old Skibicki, saying DNA had linked him to the crimes, and he was charged with four counts of first-degree murder. At the time, police did not rule out the possibility of additional victims.
Trey Delaronde, Sagkeeng First Nation, a member of the First Nations Indigenous Warriors who had led the protest occupation at the Brady Landfill since Dec. 18, said he is angry that another body had been found at Brady and doesn’t have any faith in the Winnipeg Police Services.
“They don’t investigate,” Delaronde told ICT. “They don’t know how to search properly for our Indigenous women and sisters. So the Winnipeg police are failures. They are an embarrassment to Canadian society. They’re an embarrassment to everything right now, because of the way they are and the way they act toward our women and our families that demand justice.”
Delaronde spent weeks at the site, dubbed Camp Morgan, to keep fires going through the harsh winter. Although protesters originally blocked full access, an agreement allowed the site to open again for business while discussion for a feasibility study took place.
Protesters had been calling for police to do full searches of the Brady and the Prairie Green landfills to search for additional remains.
Pike said all work at the landfill has now been halted while investigators continued to work at the scene.
“Our homicide unit has been working diligently and progressing this investigation since we became aware of this yesterday afternoon,” Pike said Tuesday. “As in the past, we are also asking for the public’s assistance in this matter. If anyone feels they have any information, no matter how small, please reach out to us and give us a chance to follow up. We are very early in this investigation.”
Assembly of Manitoba Grand Chief Cathy Merrick issued a statement about the latest development.
“On behalf of AMC, we send our deepest condolences to the family who recently lost their loved one,” Merrick said. “Canada, the Province of Manitoba, and the Winnipeg Police Services must implement more measures to protect First Nations women from the murderers who target them. Our First Nations women deserve the same human decency and gender equity enjoyed by all women of Canada. Why aren’t the governments implementing the MMIWG’s 231 Calls to Justice immediately? We are losing women every day, and it is shameful we have to come out looking in landfills for our women.”
The assembly’s statement said a feasibility study about searching the Prairie Green Landfill is expected to be completed in four to six weeks with the study on the Brady Landfill to follow.
“We are confident the study will deem these search and recovery efforts feasible,” according to the statement. “We can then concentrate on the Brady Landfill next.”
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