Inaction is the enemy of justice

It took years to convince authorities to conduct a search of the Prairie Green landfill, where the remains of two Indigenous women, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, both members of the Long Plain First Nation, are believed to have been dumped after being murdered by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

When it comes to closure for the families and communities of victims of an epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls (MMIWG), cost should be the last of anyone’s concern. Yet this is the point that was raised again and again as the Manitoba government made it sound like searching a landfill would be harder than climbing 10 Mount Everests backwards.

Sure, searching a landfill might be easier said than done, but it’s beyond obvious that a refusal to do so just meant the authorities didn’t see it as a priority.

What would these politicians have thought if it was their own mother there? Clearly their empathy circuit is on the fritz, which means they had no business being in power.

And while we know they weren’t thinking with their hearts, they weren’t thinking with their heads, either. They should have known that supporters of justice would never let go of this fight.

As the Chiefs of Manitoba pointed out, doing everything possible to find the remains of Morgan and Marcedes is a question of human dignity, and this was a time to take a stand if there ever was one.

After all, this is a country where progress halting a genocidal scourge against Indigenous women and girls is not met with the urgency it warrants, to say the least. A planned “Red Dress Alert” is still working through preliminary stages with mere scraps of funding, and it has no certainty of making it past the next election or ever seeing the light of day.

It’s no wonder the refusal of Manitoba to roll up its sleeves and respect the dignity of Onkwehón:we struck such a chord.

The advocates of a search travelled far and wide drumming up support, with some even making their way to The Eastern Door’s office in Kahnawake to share their message with the people in this corner of Turtle Island.

Pressure was key, and incensed Onkwehón:we and allies never let their voices waver, despite extraordinary challenges.

People camped out for years demanding action as the government claimed it was too expensive and dangerous to search the landfill. While Manitoba pontificated on the supposed risks, supporters were ready to do the job themselves, no matter the danger, which would have been immeasurably higher without the equipment and training possessed by experts.

The Progressive Conservatives even ran campaign ads in 2023 bragging about their decision to refuse a search of the landfill, a very real window into their view of the value of Indigenous lives.

Seriously, who could put their name to this while families mourn and grieve without end? “Stand firm. For health and safety reasons, the answer on the landfill dig just has to be no.” The answer is election loser and former Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson - in a full-page newspaper ad, no less, about as loud and proud as you can get.

Well, that government was punished for its hubris, and instead Manitoba gained the first First Nations premier in Canada’s history, Wab Kinew, who finally changed the government’s position, if at the slow pace for which government is famous.

It still took more than a year for a search to get underway. Meanwhile, the loved ones of Morgan and Marcedes and their community continued to trudge through limbo.

When the search finally started in December, Kinew said at a press conference that the odds were uncertain, but that “no matter what lies ahead, we can say we tried and we made an effort for these families.”

It’s a big contrast to the words of Stefanson at an election debate against Kinew, in which she needled him for his willingness to put Manitobans’ treasure and “safety” on the line “without a guarantee.”

There are no guarantees in life, except that doing nothing gets no results.

“Try,” is not just one of the first words a kid can learn to spell, it’s one of the first lessons they’re taught, that they have to put in an effort to get anywhere.

It’s the failure to try that is unforgivable, and that it took so long to try says so much about how those with power tend to wield it in this country, because we all know they’re not afraid to try when it suits them.

It’s truly sickening that it took this long for the government to finally make an effort, but at long last it arrived in December.

Then last week, just a few months after a search finally began in earnest, it was announced that human remains have been found at the landfill. It will be weeks, perhaps, before it may be confirmed that these are the remains of Morgan and Marcedes.

In the meantime, their families have described their feelings in complicated ways, and they’re angry, and we’re angry too, and all the country should be angry that we could have been at this point years ago.

The delay has been heartbreaking, and even if it’s true the remains of Morgan and Marcedes have been recovered, this chapter will still be far from over.

It must be a reminder etched in the minds of policymakers; when it comes to MMIWG, we need action above all, because only action means anything.

The next seven generations deserve to grow up knowing their lives have value no matter what.

TED Staff