Bawating prayer vigil held in support of landfill search

More than two dozen people participated in a prayer vigil and walk in downtown Sault Ste. Marie Tuesday for the Indigenous women whose remains are believed to be buried in Winnipeg-area landfills as people prepare to rally against Manitoba’s refusal to move ahead with a search of those facilities.   

Sept. 18 has been declared by advocates as the International Day of Action to Search the Landfills after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said her government would not support a search of the privately owned Prairies Green Landfill north of the city because it could expose searchers to asbestos and toxic chemicals. 

It is believed the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are in the landfill. Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the killings of the women and two others: Rebecca Contois, whose partial remains were found in a different landfill last year, and an unidentified woman Indigenous leaders are calling Buffalo Woman, whose remains have not been found. 

“These events are very emotional, they’re very personal,” said vigil organizer Tracie Louttit. "They’re heart wrenching, and to come together knowing that we’re here for that specific purpose, people know that they can come and have a safe place in ceremony, in prayer, where there’s medicine.” 

The prayer vigil and walk in Sault Ste. Marie was also used to honour the lives of local women, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who either went missing or were murdered.

Melissa Gagnon participated in Tuesday’s walk in memory of Charlotte Brightnose, an Indigenous woman who was murdered in May 2021. A 52-year-old man, Jerry Leveille, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the woman's shooting death earlier this year and will be sentenced next month.  

“A lot of people didn’t get to see her spirit shine, but she had a spark of life in her,” Gagnon said.

Gagnon tried to help her friend through some “situations” in life, whether it was food or being someone “positive and healthy” that she could reach out to.      

“I was just incredibly saddened when I found out she was murdered, and I honour her spirit because she was just such a bright person. She had so much to offer, and that was taken from her,” said Gagnon. “She was just starting to reconnect with her culture, and that was taken from her.

“Frequently women are taken too soon.”

Gagnon believes race plays a large role in Manitoba's refusal to search the landfill, pointing to the widespread combing of landfills on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border for the remains of Wesley Hallam, a Sault Ste. Marie man who was brutally murdered and dismembered in 2011.    

“There’s absolutely no reason that I can fathom that they couldn’t search landfills — they’ve done it for other situations. They’ve done it in the Sault Ste. Marie area for a murder case for a non-Indigenous person,” she said. “I stress if these were non-Indigenous women, that landfill would be shut down and searched.

“It’s important to be here for people like Charlotte to carry that voice, to honour them, to give the prayers back to their families and their communities, because they’re hurting too. Collectivity seems the best way to go when it comes to finding one voice to communicate a message to those higher places like Ottawa.”

Louttit, who quickly organized the impromptu vigil and walk the day before, wanted to hold a “prayer-focused gathering” in the days leading up to International Day of Action to Search the Landfills. 

“Our prayers are so powerful when we’re together. Our prayers are so powerful as Anishinaabe Kwe,” she said. 

- with files from The Canadian Press