Justice for Morgan and Marcedes

 

"The United Church of Canada believes that the inherent dignity of every human being must be respected. In life, and now in death, Morgan, Marcedes, and thousands of other missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two Spirit people have been denied the dignity and respect that they deserve."

In the heat of debate in 2023/24 over whether to search a Winnipeg area landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, murdered by a convicted serial killer I wondered if committing significant resources to doing so made sense. The landfill is vast, their were risks for the searchers, and their are tremendous needs in Indigenous communities where those millions of dollars could make a difference to the living. Clearly the horrendous toll of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls continues to be a scourge in Canada and I was uncertain about my perspective but expressed it just the same. .  

The United Church of Canada supported the search and in 2023 our Moderator, The Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, who is Indigenous,  travelled to Manitoba along with leaders from other denominations to be in solidarity with families in demanding that the search take place. 

The Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne joined church leaders and members from across the country at Camp Morgan at the Brady Road Landfill in Winnipeg on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023, where they stood in solidarity with advocates who have been calling for months for a search of the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women. PHOTO BY DAVE BAXTER /Winnipeg Sun/Local Journalism Initiative

The Manitoba Conservative government of that period made not searching the landfills an election issue and it was so clearly a desperate and racist ploy that there was backlash from the electorate, including usual supporters. When the government was defeated and Wab Kinew, Indigenous himself, became premier the decision was made to first study the feasibility of a search then commence the painstaking work. The Tories have since apologized. 

After the discovery of the second set of remains Kinew stated "Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris are coming home.This is what we set out to do. I don't know if many of us knew the odds of success ... but it turns out bringing them home was within our grasp and something we were able to do for these families."

I'll concede that my line of thought was wrong and that the commitment to fulfilling the search was justified. Was I racist in my outlook? Perhaps, because as a white male in the dominant culture it's a pervasive reality so repentance is important.  I'm hoping that my intentions were reasonable and that I do want justice for Indigenous peoples, but I live and learn.