Close X
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
ADVT 
National

Trudeau calls landfill discovery heartbreaking

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 05 Apr, 2023 01:15 PM
  • Trudeau calls landfill discovery heartbreaking

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government needs to do more to end the epidemic of violence that Indigenous women and girls face after police found the body of another Indigenous woman in a landfill this week.

Trudeau says it's heartbreaking that discoveries like these continue to happen.

The Winnipeg homicide unit says it started an investigation after staff at the Brady Road landfill south of the city found the body of 33-year-old Linda Mary Beardy on Monday.

Police say they do not believe the case is linked to the killing of Rebecca Contois, whose remains were found in the same landfill last year, or the killings of three other women.

Police have said they believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are in a different, privately run Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg, but they have not been found.

The prime minister says his Liberal government has made significant strides in countering gender-based violence, but there's more it can be doing.

"My heart goes out to the community in Winnipeg and to the families of the woman who was ... left in this way," Trudeau told reporters Wednesday.

"We will continue to be there with the community as it grieves, but we will also continue to be there to put an end to this unconscionable violence."

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the discovery highlights the need to implement the 231 calls for justice from the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

"Women are dying, lives are being taken and we have to take it seriously," Singh said.

The federal Crown-Indigenous Relations minister has praised workers at the city-run Brady landfill for their "heightened vigilance" in finding Beardy's remains.

Marc Miller also said a study into the feasibility of searching the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of Harris and Myran should be completed in the coming weeks.

The federal government put up $500,000 in February for the study into a potential search landfill.

An Indigenous-led committee headed by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said Tuesday the study is expected to be completed in four to six weeks. The organization added it is confident the study will "deem these search and recovery efforts feasible."

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Contois, Harris and Myran — all First Nations women, as well as an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. Police have also not located her remains.

The Brady landfill is to remain indefinitely closed. The city said contingency plans for garbage and recycling are in place, and workers are trying to maintain these services without disruption during the closure.

MORE National ARTICLES

New Westminster Police officers appeal for witnesses to come forward following stabbing

New Westminster Police officers appeal for witnesses to come forward following stabbing
Officers searched the area but were unable to locate any suspects. Officers have been actively interviewing witnesses and canvassing the area for CCTV footage. Due to the serious nature of the injuries the Major Crime Unit has assumed conduct of the investigation. At this time, officers believe this to be an isolated incident.

New Westminster Police officers appeal for witnesses to come forward following stabbing

Turban ripped, Sikh student dragged by hair in Canada: Report

Turban ripped, Sikh student dragged by hair in Canada: Report
Gagandeep Singh, 21, was swarmed and beaten near Highway 97 and McCurdy Road in Kelowna after he got off a transit bus on March 17, CTV News reported. Gagandeep was heading home after grocery shopping when he encountered a group of young boys, between 12 and 15 years-old on the bus.

Turban ripped, Sikh student dragged by hair in Canada: Report

One-click citizenship oath temporary: Fraser

One-click citizenship oath temporary: Fraser
The immigration minister anticipates the one-click option would only be in effect as long as the government is swamped with backlogged citizenship applications. But the Conservative party's immigration critic worries it would "cheapen" an otherwise special moment for newcomers.

One-click citizenship oath temporary: Fraser

Man who stormed PM residence loses sentence appeal

Man who stormed PM residence loses sentence appeal
A decision dated Thursday says the six-year sentence handed to Corey Hurren in March 2021, less a year for the time he spent in custody before his sentencing, was "entirely fit." Hurren, a sausage-maker who served with the military's Canadian Rangers, had pleaded guilty to seven weapons charges and one mischief charge for his actions on the morning of July 2, 2020.

Man who stormed PM residence loses sentence appeal

New trial for B.C. man convicted of sexual assault

New trial for B.C. man convicted of sexual assault
Allen Brooks was convicted by a provincial court judge in 2020 for sexual assaults that allegedly happened in 1990 and 1997 while he was working as an X-ray technician at a hospital in Maple Ridge. Brooks was acquitted of a third count of sexual assault that was alleged to have occurred in 2001.

New trial for B.C. man convicted of sexual assault

B.C. man arrested with needle attached to arrow

B.C. man arrested with needle attached to arrow
Mounties say they were called to the parking lot of the Port Place Mall in the Vancouver Island city on Monday after the man was reportedly threatening people with a stick and the toy bow and arrow.

B.C. man arrested with needle attached to arrow