The calls for a search of the Prairie Green Landfill to find the remains of two murdered Indigenous women continue to grow and Thursday, they were brought to the centre of Winnipeg.
Hundreds gathered at Portage and Main to participate in a round dance and march in solidarity with the families of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris.
Traffic was disrupted for about half an hour as protesters chanted and drummed.
And the protesters left a permanent message as a large red dress was painted with “search the landfill” written above it.
And along with a call to search, they have another message for Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson.
“All of us are asking Heather Stefanson to step down from her role as premier,” said protester Joseph Alexander Munro. “We believe she’s incapable of handling crisis situations like this and is unable to respond appropriately to these families.”
The group wasn’t done there, marching to the Manitoba Legislative Building, where they continued the calls and planted orange flags on the front lawn.
While Stefanson didn’t show up, she offered a statement saying “We know that not everyone agrees with Manitoba’s decision. However, what we can all agree on is that this is a tragic situation. Our hearts go out to the families, and our government is committed to working to stop these tragedies from happening again.”
Long Plain First Nation Chief Kyra Wilson says they’ve had enough meetings and are done talking about the issue and it’s time for action.
“So for the time being we have to make our voices loud and heard and we have to show them we can make change in this country, whether or not they like it,” said Wilson.
Melissa Robinson, the cousin of Harris, says the protests are going to continue.
‘We’re not going anywhere, and we’re going to get louder. And we’re going to make sure our voices are heard,” Robinson said.
With two months to go until the provincial election, the Manitoba Liberal Party announced a community safety and justice plan Thursday which includes a pledge to split the funding with the federal government for a search of Prairie Green.
When asked about its plan, the NDP referred Global News to previous comments made by leader Wab Kinew which say “we should make the effort to search the landfill.”