It鈥檚 been a long and emotional journey for Manitoba residential school survivor Susan Caribou. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, has been missing since September 2011 and has never been found.
鈥淚鈥檓 still not giving up on Tanya,鈥� says Caribou. 鈥淪he matters to me. Tanya is still loved. We want her home, we want to have a proper burial. Having no closure, you wonder every day if she鈥檚 alive or not.鈥�
In October 2012, Winnipeg police started searching the Brady Road Landfill. Investigators believe Nepinak鈥檚 body was put in a West End dumpster a year after she vanished, but a search was unsuccessful.
鈥淚 really pray that they will search all the landfills, and a lot of families will have that closure.鈥�
On Wednesday, the Manitoba government announced that search efforts are now underway at Manitoba鈥檚 Prairie Green Landfill to find the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, who were killed by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki. Debris is now being moved as the province prepares to search for two slain Indigenous women.
鈥淭he search of the Prairie Green Landfill is moving ahead, and we have significant progress to show,鈥� Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
The province implemented a five-stage approach to conducting the search. The Manitoba government has begun the third stage.
Stage four will involve the excavation and search of the targeted zone where the remains of two women are believed to be located. Stage four is on track to begin in late fall 2024.
Caribou says she is hopeful this news could lead to other landfills being searched.
鈥淚f they can do one search at one landfill, why not continue doing searches for the other landfills. With all the MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women), I believe most of them would be at these landfills. That鈥檚 my belief,鈥� she said.
鈥淭here have been other landfills that have successfully searched for other people鈥檚 loved ones in other provinces, and it has taken Manitoba a long time to finally do a search of the landfill.鈥�
Sandra DeLaronde, the project lead for Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre鈥檚 MMIWG2S+ Implementation Community, also believes other landfills should be searched. She says there is a lot of awareness around missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, but action, she says, lacks.
鈥淲e have to look at those broad-based systemic changes in the courts, in policing, and in investigation techniques going forward to lower those incidents,鈥� she says. 鈥淢ore importantly we have to work in the area of prevention.鈥�
