Will Justice be subverted by searching for human remains in a Winnipeg garbage dump?
The piece on the other side of the paywall was written by yours truly.
It details how the call for a long, dangerous, costly, and near useless search — one the newly elected Province of Manitoba government strongly supports — based on a flawed and biased feasibility study for the remains of two missing indigenous women in Winnipeg allegedly killed by a white man named Jeremy Skibicki could jeopardize successfully convicting him for first degree murder.
Dozens of people gathered on the night of Sunday, November 5 outside the courthouse in downtown Winnipeg for a vigil to honour the life of Marcedes Myran, one of the women allegedly murdered by Skibicki.
Drumming and singing could be heard from down the street and candles lit the rainy night sky on the eve of a Skibicki’s pretrial also accused of killing three other women.
“We wanted to gather everyone outside the court building to make a statement,” said Jorden Myran, Marcedes Myran's younger sister. “Just to get everyone out here and fight to get these women home and fight to get them justice.”
“Justice” for these advocates seems to mean finding Skibicki guilty as charged even in the absence of hard evidence, especially in the form of these women’s bodies, that he murdered them.
A publication ban means any details that emerge in his pretrial court appearances beginning on Monday, November 6 can't be reported.
Donna Bartlett, Myran's grandmother, said she'll be at court every day during the pretrial.
"My girl means a lot to me," said Bartlett.
Bartlett remembers her granddaughter as someone who was loving and trusting. Having the support Sunday night and over the last year "means a lot," she said.
"It means that people are actually listening.… We need to find her and bring her home," she said. "We need closure."
Bartlett said when Myran's son and daughter grow up, they'll see how much the community supported their mother.
"They'll see all the love we had for their mom and all the support that was out there," she said.
Countless other families of all ethnicities and backgrounds have personally or through the intervention of state authorities ensured the apprehension, protection, and treatment of their troubled relatives. Why none of families of these tragically murdered women seemed to have made sure their relatives didn’t end up alone and vulnerable to predation in some homeless shelter while they were still alive has never been answered.
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