‘We are not garbage’: #SearchTheLandfill calls grow louder country-wide | 24CA News

Hundreds of individuals gathered on the Vancouver Art Gallery Wednesday evening to indicate solidarity with the households of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran whose our bodies are believed to be in a Winnipeg landfill.

“Just seeing our loved ones and seeing Cambria Harris, the daughter of one of the murdered women, for over six months, on the front lines wanting to find her mother, wanting to get justice and there’s an outcry,” stated Jerilyn Snuxyaltwa Webster, one of many vigil organizers.

“As Indigenous people on the West Coast, we stand in solidarity because so many of our loved ones go missing and murdered.”

Last month after Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson stated the province wouldn’t assist a search of the Prairie Green landfill — as a consequence of price, security dangers and no assured success — requires #SearchTheLandfill grew.

On Twitter the hashtag has been utilized in over 16,000 tweets within the final 7 days and a petition calling for the landfill to be searched has virtually 60,000 signatures.

“They’re advocating, they’re standing on the frontlines asking the government, telling the government to clear the landfill … it’s appalling the government isn’t doing anything,” stated Annita McPhee, one other vigil organizer. “The most frustrating part of this, Indigenous women feel they aren’t valued while they’re alive, and even now they can’t give the families the peace they deserve.”

While looking a landfill isn’t straightforward, landfills have been searched earlier than. In 2021, the stays of Nathaniel Brettell had been present in an Ontario landfill after a several-month lengthy search.

“We feel like its racially driven,” stated McPhee. “Yes they say it costs too much money, its dangerous, but they’ve done it for others … you just have to look at the history of what’s happened to Indigenous women and you know we’re not valued in Canada and that’s the saddest part of this.”

At Wednesday’s vigil, the organizers and neighborhood members coated themselves in rubbish luggage for instance how Indigenous girls are being handled.

“It just hit us so hard, to not look for us, to not look for those Indigenous women is to say to us Indigenous women, that we’re trash,” stated Webster. “But we’re not trash, we’re not garbage and you shouldn’t be treating us like this.”

“It still hurts my heart, what if it was your mom, sister, auntie — they need to do the right thing and look for them.”

The requires #SearchTheLandfill are rising louder and occasions are being held throughout the nation; Wednesday’s in Vancouver, Thursday’s in Winnipeg and one is deliberate for Saturday in St. John’s.

Despite the calls rising louder, many say they’re falling on deaf ears.

On Aug. 1 the province of Manitoba introduced the discharge of an MMIWG2s license plate saying it was “part of its ongoing commitment to reconciliation and support of MMIWG2S issues.”

Advocates say in any other case, “that’s a message of tokenism,” stated Webster.

“We do the work as Indigenous people, we gather, we heal ourselves, we go on the searches and its the police and the governments that don’t honour or listen to us … we are not being heard, but we will not be silent, we will always step forward.”

McPhee provides, “We keep hearing its too much money or it takes too much time, there’s always excuses as to why our women aren’t valuable enough to look for and that’s not right.”

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