Preliminary search of Winnipeg landfill for victim of serial killer underway: Kinew
Kinew says the province is in the test phase of the search at the city-run Brady Road landfill for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose.
Shingoose was one of the four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.
The premier says an excavation of the site began this week and a small team has been conducting ground-penetrating radar tests to narrow down a search area.
Kinew says a proper search of the landfill could happen later this year.
He also says the province is making plans to search the landfill for the remains of Tanya Nepinak, a First Nations woman last seen in Winnipeg in 2011.
A search of a different landfill for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, also victims of Skibicki, finished this summer after remains of both women were found.
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Global News
a day ago
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First Nation in B.C. says 41 more graves found by penetrating radar at school sit
An 18-month investigation at a former residential school site in British Columbia's Sunshine Coast has found more evidence of children who disappeared there, the area's First Nation says. The shishalh First Nation in Sechelt, B.C., said in a release Friday that 41 'additional unmarked graves' had been found as a result of a search with ground-penetrating radar in the area around the St. Augustine's Residential School site. It said the discovery brought the number of suspected graves at the site to 81, after initial findings that were announced in 2023. 'Today is a day of loss for our community and for our families,' said Chief Lenora Joe in a video statement. 'These findings and the areas scanned were all driven by the stories and the memories of our survivors, our elders and family members who have been carrying these truths and burdens with strength for many, many years.' Story continues below advertisement The B.C. Legislature's flag would fly at half mast until sunset on Sunday, assembly staff said in a social media post after the First Nation's announcement. The post said this was 'to honour the shishalh Nation, and the survivors, families, and communities impacted by trauma and loss at the former Sechelt residential school.' First Nations communities have tended to use careful language when announcing the findings of radar searches, ranging from anomalies and areas of interest to possible graves, but the shishalh statement said graves at St. Augustine's were 'identified by archeologists.' In April 2023, the nation announced the discovery of what it believed to be 40 unmarked grave sites on and around St. Augustine's. It said at the time that depending solely on ground-penetrating radar for data would be inaccurate and inconclusive, due to the site of St. Augustine's being in the middle of Sechelt and having been disturbed and developed. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy On Friday, the shishalh Nation declined to offer anyone for an interview, saying it wanted space and privacy. 'As we release this news, we want to protect our people and put our community and other First Nations whose children are directly impacted and connected to this in the forefront,' Joe said in a video statement. 'We are not taking ownership of this trauma, because that was done to us. But we are taking ownership of our healing, our message and our future.' Story continues below advertisement The nation said children from its community as well as 53 other nations from as far away as Saskatchewan were at the residential school, and it had been working with them in the search for possible graves. This is the latest in a series of statements from First Nations around the province after the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc First Nation in Kamloops announced the detection of more than 200 potential unmarked graves by ground-penetrating radar in May 2021. Joe said her nation is 'deeply saddened' by the latest discoveries, but the results of ground-penetrating radar scans weren't surprising to community members. 'We have always believed our elders. This wasn't a school, it wasn't a choice, and the children who attended were stolen,' Joe said. 'We didn't need the (ground-penetrating radar) to prove this happened; we always had enough proof to know.' The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba says St. Augustine's, in Sechelt, B.C., operated between 1904 and 1975 under Roman Catholic administration with federal funding from 1905 onward. The first school building burned down in 1917, and a newer structure was opened in 1922 before being destroyed by another fire in October 1975, just months after it had been closed. The centre said parents had protested issues ranging from the quality of education to poor diet and harsh discipline at the school in 1923, withdrawing their children from the facility. Story continues below advertisement Joe said in her statement that survivor accounts reported children allegedly being taken by staff into nearby forests at night and not returning. 'Survivors have carried these horrors, and the disappearances of their siblings, cousins, and peers, in addition to their own experiences,' Joe said. The Indian Residential Schools Resolution Health Support Program has a hotline to help residential school survivors and their relatives suffering with trauma invoked by the recall of past abuse. The number is 1-866-925-4419.
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
Family of murdered woman give emotional impact statements
amily members of Ashlee Shingoose gave victim impact statements in a Winnipeg court on Friday, nearly a year after the man who killed her, and three other First Nations women, was sentenced to life in prison. Shingoose was identified earlier this year as the person who had been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
‘An eye for an eye'
Surrounded by loved ones in a Winnipeg court Friday, the father of a slain First Nation woman spoke of the pain of his loss and the desperation it caused, his voice taut with sadness and anger. The Manitoba's Court of King's Bench held an unusual hearing Friday to hear from the family and community of Ashlee Christine Shingoose, a year after Jeremy Skibicki was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years for killing her and three other First Nations women in 2022. 'It's been a tough, tough year for us family… The court failed me,' her father, Albert Shingoose, told King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, in a voice that boomed through the room, distraught over the fact his daughter's killer did not appear at the hearing. Albert and Theresa Shingoose, parents of Ashlee Shingoose, who was murdered by Jeremy Skibicki, are greeted by supporters outside the Manitoba Law Courts after they presented their victim impact statements to the court on Friday. 'If he was here, your honour, I would have said to him, 'I want an eye for an eye.'' Shingoose, a 30-year-old from St. Theresa Point First Nation, was identified after the trial as one of Skibicki's victims. She is believed to have been killed in March 2022. During the trial and sentencing last year, Shingoose, whose remains had yet to be identified, was referred to as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, a name given by Indigenous elders. 'It's so painful, what has happened,' Shingoose's mother Theresa Shingoose told court, her voice halting and quiet. She said it was healing when police, this week, gave the family the jacket her daughter was last seen wearing. In a written statement, which was read by St. Theresa Point Chief Raymond Flett, Albert Shingoose said he travelled to Winnipeg from the family's home in St. Theresa Point after his daughter disappeared, spending months searching for her. Ashlee Shingoose 'We knew something terrible had happened. We felt it in our hearts,' Flett read. 'We felt like we were left to search on our own.' Albert Shingoose long believed his daughter was Skibicki's unidentified victim, but said no one would listen. 'For the longest time, Ashlee remained unidentified, while we were out here, screaming into silence,' Flett read. The chief also read out a statement on behalf of the community. Albert Shingoose, father of Ashlee Shingoose, is comforted outside the Manitoba Law Courts before they entereto present victim impact statements to the court on Friday. 'Her death has broken our hearts and shaken our community,' said Flett. 'To the person responsible, you took Ashlee from us. But you'll never take away her spirit. We will speak her name, we will remember her love, we will keep her memory alive. You have brought darkness, but her light will continue to shine in our hearts forever.' As Shingoose had yet to be identified, her family and friends did not get the chance to provide statements to the court at Skibicki's sentencing, as the families of Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, did. Winnipeg police homicide detectives used DNA, in conjunction with Skibicki identifying a photos of Shingoose as his first victim after his sentencing, to confirm who Buffalo Woman was. After she was publicly identified in March, Crown prosecutors raised the idea of the special sitting to put the family and community's victim impact statements on the court record, to which Joyal agreed. Shingoose family and supporters of Ashlee Shingoose, gathered outside the Manitoba Law Courts before they entered to present victim impact statements to the court. Shingoose's body has not yet been found, but a preliminary search began at the Brady Road landfill, where police believe the remains of Shingoose were taken, Premier Wab Kinew said earlier this week. Skibicki, who's in his late 30s, targeted women at homeless shelters and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins. He admitted the killings to homicide detectives, after the partial remains of Contois were discovered by a passerby in a bin in May 2022. He gave police the name of an individual he thought was Buffalo Woman, but she turned out to be alive, and the unidentified woman's name remained unknown. The rest of Contois's remains were found at Brady landfill in 2022, while the remains of Harris and Myran were recovered earlier this year at the Prairie Green landfill, north of the city. Addressing the packed courtroom before the proceedings began, Joyal said the court had no jurisdiction to order or insist the serial killer attend. Albert Shingoose, father of Ashlee Shingoose, gestures in front of a banner for missing person Tanya Nepinak as he leaves the Manitoba Law Courts Friday. Among those in the gallery were family members of Skibicki's other victims and their supporters, as well as senior Winnipeg police officials. Lawyer Peter Kingsley, who's the executive director of Legal Aid Manitoba, appeared as the killer's counsel at the hearing. He said Skibicki did not attend out of a 'firm belief' his presence would further harm his victims' loved ones. Joyal said holding the hearing, which had 'no or little precedent,' was appropriate and necessary in the exceptional circumstances of the case, to give Shingoose's family and community 'some measure of comfort.' Joyal also said the special hearing served as an opportunity for reconciliation between the justice system and Indigenous people, in a case that has been emblematic of the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Manitoba and across Canada. 'This hearing presents this court with an opportunity to try to respond to one of the inherent challenges at the heart of this crisis — that so many Indigenous women and girls are both murdered and missing, that they simply disappear, leaving behind broken families and devastated communities,' said Joyal. A small group of women drum for Albert and Theresa Shingoose, parents of Ashlee Shingoose, as they leave the Manitoba Law Courts Friday. 'This reality beseeches us — where circumstances allow — to make special efforts, to use the tools available to the courts, to honour and commemorate identity, to acknowledge personhood.' Erik PinderaReporter Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik. Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
