Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says he would move forward on a search of the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran if the party forms government on Oct. 3.
Kinew said if elected, he’ll do what current Premier Heather Stefanson won’t, which is “try.”
“We are going to come looking and we are going to deliver justice,” he said at an unrelated press conference Wednesday morning.
Stefanson and the Progressive Conservatives said they won’t support a search due to health and safety risks, while the Manitoba Liberal Party said if elected it would fund 50 per cent of the $184 million it is estimated to cost to search the north Winnipeg site.
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Harris, Myran and two other women. The charges have not been proven in court.
The NDP leader said the search is not only important in delivering justice to the alleged serial killer, but it also makes good on the chant adopted on Sept. 30, known colloquially as Orange Shirt Day, when “every child matters” has become common phrase.
“If we want a Manitoba where every child reaches their full potential, we need to be willing, at the public level, to take the steps that we would take for one walk of life for somebody from another walk of life,” he said.
Kinew said he’s sat with family and loved ones of the missing women to discuss options, and committed to trying to find the women’s remains whether it involves a search or another approach.
Advocates and protesters have camps set up at the Brady Road landfill and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, dubbed “Camp Morgan” and “Camp Marcedes” respectively, and say they will remain there until a search is done.
Protests calling for a search of the landfill have spread across the country recently, with rallies held in Vancouver and St. John’s last week.
The leader stopped short of promising any cash for the search, but said the process would begin as soon as the party forms government if it wins the fall election.
Kinew also pledged to end chronic homelessness for anyone without a place to live for longer than six weeks in the next eight years.
“When I drive by a bus shack and see someone living in it, I think, ‘Way to go Justin Trudeau. Way to go Heather Stefanson. I thought this was a rich country.'”
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