Manitoba cabinet briefing on landfill search for murder victims not being released

Heather Stefanson speaks to media after the completion of the 43rd Manitoba legislature throne speech at the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim

WINNIPEG — A report that could shed more light on why Manitoba’s former Progressive Conservative government rejected calls to search a landfill for the remains of two murder victims is being withheld under the province’s freedom of information law.

Records obtained by The Canadian Press show senior bureaucrats assembled a presentation for cabinet ministers on a potential search in the weeks before the government decided not to proceed with the idea in 2023.

The contents of that presentation — a 13-page digital slide deck that would reveal for the first time what civil servants told politicians — are not being released under Manitoba’s freedom of information law, which one expert says is among the most secretive in the country.

Families of the victims and Indigenous leaders had called on the government of the time to search the Prairie Green landfill, a private operation north of Winnipeg, for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

The women were among the four victims of Jeremy Skibicki, who killed and disposed of the women’s remains in garbage bins in 2022. He is currently serving a life sentence for first-degree murder.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, with federal funding, commissioned a study that was released in May 2023. It said a search would carry risks due to toxic chemicals and asbestos, cost as much as $184 million, and come with no guarantee of success.

But the study also said a search would be feasible and forgoing one would harm the victims’ families and have long-lasting repercussions for Indigenous communities across Canada.

In the days that followed, bureaucrats — including the deputy ministers of environment, Indigenous reconciliation, municipal relations, justice, and mental health and community wellness — discussed the slide deck and made additions and edits, the documents show. The deck was finalized at the end of May.

In early July, then-premier Heather Stefanson announced the province would not support a search and pointed to the study’s finding of risk, cost and lack of certain success.

Months later, the Tories were ousted in a provincial election that saw them run campaign ads touting their opposition to search the landfill. Stefanson later resigned.

The new NDP government launched a search in late 2024 and, within a few months, found remains of Harris and Myran at an estimated cost of $18 million to $20 million.

A search at a different landfill is underway for the remains of another Skibicki victim, Ashlee Shingoose. The partial remains of Rebecca Contois were previously found at that site.

Material presented to the Progressive Conservative cabinet included “proposals, views, analysis, questions and staff recommendations to brief ministers about response options to the recommendations in the landfill search feasibility study,” the ombudsman’s office wrote in a recent report.

The office ruled the Municipal and Northern Relations department was correct in rejecting the request by The Canadian Press for the material, under Section 19 of Manitoba’s freedom of information law.

The section stipulates “discussion papers, policy analyses, proposals, advice or similar briefing material submitted or prepared for submission to cabinet” must not be made public.

The law keeps more material secret than laws in some other provinces, said Dean Beeby, an independent journalist in Ottawa who worked for decades with The Canadian Press and CBC with a focus on freedom of information files.

“Manitoba has one of the most restrictive cabinet secrecy regimes in Canada,” he said in an email.

“Note, for example, that Manitoba protects ‘discussion papers’ from disclosure ... while the federal Access to Information Act permits the release of ‘discussion papers’ once a decision rendered by cabinet has been made public; or if not made public, then after four years from the decision,” Beeby added.

Paul Thomas, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Manitoba, said there’s room to allow more material to be made public.

“Not every document headed to cabinet should automatically be treated as confidential,” Thomas said.

“Cabinet documents (could) be prepared to separate factual background information from the advice and recommendations being made from neutral public servants.”

Freedom of information laws among the provinces vary.

Like Manitoba, Alberta forbids the release of documents prepared for cabinet, including any background or factual information.

In Nova Scotia, portions of cabinet documents can be released that contain background information, including explanations and analysis, once a decision has been made public or five years after a decision has been made privately.

The secrecy is also not permanent. Cabinet documents are releasable after 10 years in Nova Scotia, 15 years in Alberta and 20 years in Manitoba.

Manitoba’s law includes a provision that allows the premier, at the time the documents were created, to waive the confidentiality clause and allow their release.

The Canadian Press was unable to contact Stefanson. Emails to her were not returned.

Current Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan, who was minister of sport, culture and heritage in May 2023, doesn’t remember seeing a slide deck on a landfill search and would be prohibited from discussing it in any event due to cabinet confidentiality, said a Tory caucus spokesman.

A spokesperson for the NDP government said all records of an outgoing cabinet, its committees and ministers are not available to a new government.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2025.

Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press