Murder investigation leads to landfill protest

A protest tied to a murder investigation in the Canadian province of Manitoba resulted in a three-week long blockade of a government-owned landfill near Winnipeg.

According to a report issued by the Winnipeg Water and Waste Department, the city’s need to divert collected municipal solid waste (MSW) from the city-owned Brady Road Resource Management Facility Landfill to two private landfills ended up costing Winnipeg taxpayers about CAD$411,000 ($307,000).

That same report says the diverted material was directed to the Prairie Green Landfill, operated by Toronto-based Waste Connections of Canada Inc., the Mid Canada Landfill, operated by Ontario-based GFL Environmental Inc.

The Winnipeg department says that both landfills are located beyond the Winnipeg city limits and both also charge a tipping fee that is higher than that of the municipally owned Brady Road landfill.

The protest, which ran from Dec. 18, 2022, until Jan. 6, 2023, was conducted by people demanding the Brady Road landfill be searched for a victim of accused serial killer Jeremy Skibecki. The body of one of Skibecki’s alleged victims already has been found at the landfill.

While the Brady Landfill was targeted by protesters, police reportedly believe two of the victims’ bodies are in the nearby landfill operated by Waste Connections. The protesters, who have adopted the name First Nation Indigenous Warriors, also have asked authorities to conduct a search at that landfill.

An CTV report about the protest indicates the Brady Landfill is the only landfill still operating within the Winnipeg city limits. “We don't have another landfill within the city; there’s 36 closed ones, but the only open one is Brady,” Winnipeg Council representative Brian Mayes told CTV.

That same article, published in late December, said at that time operations at the Waste Connections-operated landfill had been “paused indefinitely” while authorities consider a proposal to search that landfill.