A Landfill Can be a Symbol of our Failure at Reconciliation

How much is one life worth? Have you ever considered the price you would put on a person’s life?

In June of 2022, the partial remains of Rebecca Contois were discovered at the Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The 24-year-old mother of a young daughter was a member of the O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation and grew up in #Winnipeg. Police believe that other missing #Indigenous women – specifically Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and another unidentified victim, dubbed Buffalo Woman – may have been dumped in the same landfill.

Rebecca Contois, Morgan Beatrice Harris, Marcedes Myran.

Calls came swiftly to conduct a forensic search of the landfill to determine if Contois, Harris, Myran, Buffalo Woman, and other missing Indigenous women were located there. Winnipeg Police and the Manitoba Government first said a search wasn’t possible for a list of reasons. A feasibility study debunked all of the excuses. A blockade was formed, and instead of doing what they should be doing, the Manitoba Government went to court to have the blockade deemed unlawful. And then it ultimately came out that the issue was simple: cost. The price tag to search the landfill would be 184 million dollars.

When the Titan submersible went missing in June of this year, the Canadian and US governments spared no expense when locating the missing submersible and its occupants. The bill for that search has yet to be tallied, but it is widely expected to be tens of millions of dollars if not more. There was never a question or debate about the value of the lives of the five men onboard the Titan – five men of significant wealth, it’s worth pointing out. Experts have been saying since 2018 that the Titan was not safe to travel to the remains of the Titanic and that it was only a matter of time before disaster struck. Yet those five men chose to accept the risk. And they paid with their lives. A tragedy, no doubt, but the price of their lives has been made clear.

Rebecca Contois, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and Buffalo Woman didn’t choose to be murdered. They were simply living their lives and fell victim to a killer or killers. They join the list of over 4,000 Indigenous women and girls believed to have been killed or gone missing over the past 30 years. Contois, Harris, Myran, and Buffalo Woman were not wealthy or affluent. Do their lives not matter too? Why is there hesitation?

The symbolism of a landfill being the final resting place of these four women (and maybe more?) is not lost. The Manitoba government may inadvertently be implying that Contois, Harris, Myran, and Buffalo Woman were trash and are where they belong. Premier Heather Stefanson has confirmed that the government will not pay for a search but supports the creation of a memorial to the missing women. That action is the equivalent of sharing “thoughts and prayers” with victims of gun violence in the United States but not supporting stricter gun control legislation.

The December 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report outlined 94 Calls to Action, which were intended to guide governments, educators, and employers to make amends for the damage done to Indigenous peoples due to residential schools. The Government of Manitoba unanimously ratified The Path to Reconciliation Act in March 2016. The Act has a section specifically on missing and murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The government's current stance questions their commitment to reconciliation, to say the least.

Reconciliation is about much more than the obligatory land acknowledgment read at the beginning of an event. While there isn’t a specific mention of a Call to Action related to the search for victims in a landfill, Call to Action 40 reads: “We call upon all levels of government, in collaboration with Aboriginal people, to create adequately funded and accessible Aboriginal-specific victim programs and services with appropriate evaluation mechanisms.” Doesn’t identifying the remains of four Indigenous women who may be the victims of a serial killer qualify?

The inaction of the Manitoba government indicates Canada’s failure to achieve the objectives of reconciliation with the country’s first people. If we are genuinely committed to reconciliation, we must spend some money. We’re going to have to change. We’re going to have to get uncomfortable.

Some have posted online that the Government shouldn’t spend 184 million dollars to find these women. And it is a lot of money. But I ask them a simple question: What if the victim was your daughter? Your granddaughter? Your mother? Your wife? How much would you spend to bring your loved one home?

If #Canada and #Manitoba are serious about #reconciliation, they will #SearchTheLandfill