City of Winnipeg files for injunction to remove landfill blockade

The City of Winnipeg has filed for a court injunction to remove a group of protesters blocking the main entrance to the Brady Road landfill.

The blockade, now in its fifth day, was set up a day after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson announced the province's decision not to fund a search of the Prairie Green landfill just north of Winnipeg, where the remains of two murdered Indigenous women are believed to be.

Protesters at the Brady Road landfill will not leave unless an injunction is granted by the court, according to an affidavit filed by the city in Manitoba's Court of King's Bench on Tuesday.

There are concerns about environmental, safety and financial risks that will cause "irreparable harm" to the city if the court order is not granted, according to the affidavit.

"The city has suffered damages and will almost certainly continue to suffer damage and loss if the injunctive relief sought is not granted," the application, which will be first heard in court Wednesday morning, says.

The city's manager of solid waste services, Michael Gordichuk, swore the affidavit. The city says their application for an injunction will be on the judge's uncontested list.

About 10 people remained stationed behind old tires stacked up and filled with lumber at the south Winnipeg landfill on Tuesday afternoon.

Protesters previously blocked access to the landfill between Dec. 11 and Jan. 6, prompting the closure of the landfill and diverting of city waste, the affidavit says.

'We're done cooperating,' cousin of Morgan Harris says 

The application names several people as respondents, including Cambria Harris and Melissa Robinson, the daughter and cousin of 39-year-old Morgan Harris. Her remains are believed to be at the Prairie Green landfill just north of Winnipeg, alongside 26-year-old Marcedes Myran.

"If they come in tomorrow and start dragging people out of there … it's just going to infuriate a whole nation," Robinson told Radio-Canada on Tuesday.

"I guess all we can do is wait and see how it goes down tomorrow morning … We're done cooperating."

Jeremy Skibicki is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of four women, including Harris, Myran as well as Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were discovered by police at the Brady landfill in June of last year.

The location of the fourth and unidentified woman, known as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe or Buffalo Woman, is not known.

In early January, protesters agreed to remove a blockade at the Brady landfill, relocating to another area of the facility and setting up an encampment called "Camp Morgan," which has been maintained through the winter, spring and summer, Gordichuk's affidavit says.

The Brady landfill was temporarily closed again when protesters blocked access in April, after the body of Linda Beardy was discovered there. 

On Friday, the city's chief administrative officer, Michael Jack, issued a notice for the blockade to be cleared from the roadway leading into the Brady landfill by noon on Monday, which protestors refused to accept when city personnel attempted to serve it to them, according to the affidavit.

Trucks have been using a temporary back entrance to the Brady landfill, but the city says that is not a long term solution.

The Brady landfill was closed again on Friday, after rain left the alternative route unusable, the court documents say. Ongoing construction of the alternative route into the landfill has cost the city $124,000 so far.

'Tensions are high': Mayor

The city says last winter's blockades cost about $1.5-million, which includes lost revenue and out-of-pocket expenses. It also continues to rack up security and traffic costs, amounting to about $600 a day or $125,000 so far this year, according to the affidavit.

Mayor Scott Gillingham wouldn't say what would happen if a judge grants the injunction and the protesters refuse to leave.

"Tensions are high, kind of on both sides," he said at a Tuesday press conference, which took place prior to the filing of the injunction.

"You've got people in the community that I'm hearing from, that want the road open, and they're frustrated. And no doubt, family members are grieving the loss of loved ones and they want action from senior levels of government."

Gillingham also would not comment on whether he supports forcibly removing the protesters who are blocking access if the injunction is granted. He said he has offered to meet with the families who want the landfill searched and wants the issue resolved through dialogue.

"But at the end of the day, my responsibility to the city of Winnipeg and the citizens of Winnipeg is to make sure that garbage continues to be collected and we can have access through that road."

The city's end goal is to have the encampment and blockade at the Brady landfill removed, according to Gillingham.

Protesters initially agreed to leave on Saturday, but after a man pulled up to the site on Sunday and shovelled a truckload of soil and debris onto a red dress mural on the road at the site, they dug in their heels and said they'd stay.

The red dress has come to symbolize missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Tre Delaronde, one of the protesters at the Brady landfill, says they have no plans to remove the blockade.

"We're peaceful on our part and how they approach us is up to them," he told CBC News at the landfill Tuesday.

He says protesters felt a sense of determination as they listened in to Gillingham's Tuesday press conference.

The blockade has received nationwide support, including from Ontario's Six Nations of the Grand River and as far away as British Columbia, according to Delaronde.

"We're confident, pretty confident that we're going to stay."