Blockade at Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg demands search for murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people

Photo: Tre DeLaronde

The Winnipeg Free Press reports: “A group of advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people has shut down public access to Winnipeg’s Brady Road landfill, calling for a halt to dumping and a search for human remains.”

“The group has vowed to maintain a blockade and camp outside the city-run landfill until a search is conducted.”

Tre DeLaronde, a participant in the blockade of the landfill, tells the newspaper: “Even if it takes a whole year, we will be here. We’re here in solidarity with the families so they may have a voice and their cries are not ignored.”

Another participant, Taylor Orpin, says: “We told them if you do not stop dumping, we will. This landfill has ample space to dump elsewhere. That was a simple ask to stop desecrating the land where our sisters lie.”

APTN adds: “Demonstrators, advocates and affected family members want city police to do a second search of the dump for more remains of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls [some of the remains of Rebecca Contois were found in this landfill].”

Pharroh.jij has posted on Instagram:

“Let’s support this local warrior society in helping these indigenous daughters to lay their mothers to rest. I also want to reiterate that this blockade is 10000000% necessary, if these bodies are not recovered it will send a message to white supremacists everywhere to bury indigenous peoples in landfills since nobody will look for them.”

The blockade began on Monday with temperatures around -25C.