‘We’re going to try’: Manitoba premier details plans to search Winnipeg landfill for missing women

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says preparations are underway to search a Winnipeg landfill for the remains of two missing Indigenous women.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew has revealed more details about how the government plans to conduct a search of a Winnipeg landfill for the remains of two missing Indigenous women.

Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, Kinew confirmed that workers have started excavating a section of Brady Road landfill where they plan to search for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose.

“We just want to kind of go back to basic principles and make sure that we’re choosing the right approach that’s going to give the maximum chance of success while also being delivered in a fiscally responsible approach,” Kinew said.

“And so I can tell you that in addition to the excavation tests being underway this week, we’ve also done ground-penetrating radar testing, and then we’re going to be using a few other sampling approaches to try and see whether they might bring anything else to the table.”

Shingoose, along with Rebecca Contois, Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris, were confirmed as victims of convicted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.

Shingoose was known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, a name given to her by Indigenous grassroots community members during the investigation and trial, as she wasn’t positively identified until March 2025.

The remains of Contois were discovered in the Brady Road landfill, while the remains of Harris and Myran were both found in the Prairie Green Landfill near Stony Mountain in 2024.

Kinew said the goal is to begin searching for Shingoose’s remains later this year.

During the news conference, Kinew also shared plans are underway to search for the remains of Tanya Nepinak.

Nepinak disappeared in 2011, and her remains are believed to also be in the Brady Road landfill.

Kinew said the government is still speaking with Nepanik’s family about the plans to search the landfill and couldn’t share much information publicly but said the search would happen after the search for Shingoose was complete.

“Manitoba is a place where if somebody goes missing, we go looking,” Kinew said. “We just want them to know that we can’t guarantee the outcome, but we’re going to try.”