Protesters prepare to end Brady Road landfill blockade, build 2nd camp at human rights museum

Protesters are preparing for city officials to take down the barricade blocking the entrance road to Brady Road landfill on Monday, but say teepees and a wigwam next to the road will remain as a memorial — and a new camp will be built outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

"It's not a loss. It's our voice being heard," said Joseph Munro, leader of Camp Morgan, which has been set up near Brady Road since December in support of calls to search the Prairie Green landfill. Police believe the remains of two First Nations women who they say were homicide victims — Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran — were taken to Prairie Green last year.

"All week, we've had little wins, little victories. Tomorrow is not a loss because people know now. People came and they heard. They heard the cries," Munro told CBC on Sunday.

Munro expects the city to act on its injunction order and remove the barricade on the road tomorrow. But no matter what happens on Monday, the structures next to the road will stay, he said.

Those structures are two teepees and a 73-foot-long and 21-foot-wide wigwam, which supporters plan on covering later this week. Munro said they'll leave them next to the road as a reminder of what the area means to them.

"It will be here as a reminder 'till the land takes it back," Munro said.

"This is our land," he added. "That's what this represents, our home, our place of refuge."

Protesters remained at the site over the weekend despite an injunction preventing them from blocking the main road to the city-owned facility. The order went into effect at 6 p.m. CT Friday. 

The injunction was initially adjourned last week in hopes protesters and the city would negotiate. 

But Munro said protesters never planned on closing down the road as long as they have. He said after the province announced it would not fund a search of Prairie Green and after the city ordered an injunction, they decided to hold their ground.

"That was an offence to this whole camp. We had to shut down the road," he said. "We had to stand and fight against that injunction."

Second camp on its way

Protesters are also planning on building another camp outside the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in downtown Winnipeg. Munro said they'll go there on Monday to set up more structures. 

While the front line at Brady Road still stands, Munro said there's no resistance to what might happen Monday, and he's grateful for the support they've received so far.

"I'm believing that greater Manitoba is listening and is standing up and saying no to what Heather Stefanson has said."

That support has been flooding in from across the country, after about 20 to 30 protesters gathered outside a Vancouver landfill in solidarity on Saturday.

In an email to CBC, the City of Vancouver said there was minimal to no service disruptions to the Vancouver South Transfer Station.

Tre Delaronde, who has been at Camp Morgan since December, said he's thankful to those who protested in Vancouver.

"It's a good feeling," he told CBC on Saturday. "It brings more confidence to us."

Delaronde said while they're prepared to expect the unexpected come Monday, they're also not planning to fight back.

"We're not here to fight," he said.