The City of Winnipeg’s efforts to get a court injunction to end a blockade at the Brady Road landfill will have to wait another day, as the case has been adjourned until Thursday.
In an application to the Court of King’s Bench, the city is asking a judge to order an end to the blockade and to authorize the arrest and removal of anyone who contravenes the order. Protesters are demanding officials search another local landfill for the remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
The provincial court judge’s decision to adjourn for a day was to give families of victims Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris a chance to find legal representation and be present in court.
The city’s efforts to seek a legal remedy to the demonstration were expected, but “disheartening,” says a Manitoba Indigenous leader.
“When we look at the response that we received from the province, and now with the city — they have reached out and now they are wanting to negotiate — I’m not really sure what exactly that means,” Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson told Global Winnipeg.
“All we’re really asking for is the support when it comes to searching the landfill. That’s all we’re looking for right now.”
The protesters, Wilson said, are trying to peacefully bring awareness to the issue — a subject that has heated up in recent days after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson’s refusal to conduct a search of the Prairie Green Landfill, where the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are believed to be.
“It’s really upsetting, because you just have a group of people … they’re wanting to be heard, they’re wanting to bring awareness to the issue, and the response is that they potentially could be arrested,” Wilson said.
“That’s unfortunate, and that’s really upsetting, considering we’re all very much a part of this community within this province, within this city. We are First Nations but we are very much a part of this community that we have within this province.”
The blockade, Wilson said, is only disrupting one entrance to the Brady site — the landfill has still been actively used throughout the protest.
On Tuesday afternoon, Winnipeg mayor Scott Gillingham, who supports the injunction, told media that while a second entrance remains open, the road leading to that entrance isn’t designed for heavy traffic, and there are concerns the blockade will affect city garbage collection as a result.
“I think it’s important that we don’t run into the situation where we could have garbage collection interrupted so I think it’s really important that we continue to make sure those operations are ongoing,” Gillingham said.
Coun. Janice Lukes, whose Waverley West constituency backs onto the Brady landfill, says there are potential environmental concerns if access to the site is barred for a prolonged period.
There’s an alternative gravel and dirt roadway but it comes with the city says it comes with challenges and it was never intended for large vehicles, high traffic volume, and all types of weather.
“Even last week when we got a heavy rainfall Thursday evening, that rendered the road unusable on Friday. We actually had large vehicles getting stuck on it. So it’s not the approved roadway, it’s not the approved means of ingress or egress for that landfill.” said Michael Jack, Chief Administrative Officer, City of Winnipeg.
“(There’s) a facility in the Brady landfill that captures leachate… there’s a complete drainage system underneath the landfill that draws out a fluid material,” Lukes told Global Winnipeg.
“You can imagine the fluid is toxic, it’s aromatic, and it’s put in a container and it’s hauled away. The more it rains, the more leachate there is. If the leachate is now hauled away and disposed of at the sewage treatment plant, the tank will overflow and go into the groundwater system, and it’ll be just a big environmental disaster.”
Lukes said she empathizes with the demonstrators and hopes a solution can be found.
“The whole situation is heartbreaking, really. I don’t think any of us can really understand the depth of sadness and distress that these families are going through.
“It’s a very, very complex and complicated situation and emotions prevail… but we’re still producing garbage. The city is still producing much garbage.”
Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt placed the blame for the situation squarely at the feet of the provincial and federal governments, and said he hopes things don’t escalate further.
“The premier of Manitoba is responsible for this — she should not have made the decision to tell these families (that a search won’t happen) — she should have worked with the federal government. The federal government should be paying for this.
“All of the struggling and suffering that’s going on today with the Indigenous people in Manitoba — you look at one policy of the federal government for over 100 years, and it’s the residential school system. You target one community based on their race for over 100 years, taking away their children… you literally smash families over seven or eight or nine generations, you’re going to have families that are struggling.
“We have missing and murdered Indigenous women. What kind of country has missing and murdered women?”
Wyatt said while he thinks funding should come from the feds, Stefanson should be leading the charge, as premier, to help the families find closure.
While the injunction request is awaiting a decision from a judge, expected Wednesday, law professor Allan Hutchinson told Global Winnipeg it’s unlikely it will be a cut-and-dried ruling that will either force protesters to leave or allow them to remain.
Hutchinson said there are a number of factors the judge will have to take into account, including public interest, but in similar cases, such as with striking workers, injunctions can have the effect of allowing demonstrations to continue, but with certain restrictions.
In other cases, he said, judges have dictated when and where protests are allowed to take place.
“In this case, it’s worth stating that the protesters do have certain Charter rights to protest, so the issue is less likely to be whether they have a right to protest, but about the time, place and manner of the protest,” he said.
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