Vigil held in Vancouver to honour 4 Indigenous women murdered in Winnipeg

A crowd rallied in East Vancouver in December 2022 to honour four Indigenous women murdered in Winnipeg, and to join calls for police to search for the victims' remains.

A crowd rallied in East Vancouver Sunday to honour four Indigenous women murdered in Winnipeg, and to join calls for police to search for the victims' remains. 

Locals are showing support for the families of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois and Buffalo Woman – the Indigenous victims whose murders were announced by Winnipeg police last week.

JB The First Lady, who is from the Nuxalk Nation and helped organize the Vancouver event, says B.C.’s Indigenous community deals with the same behaviour that contributed to the deaths of the Manitoba victims.

“We need policing and RCMP to not neglect our MMIWG cases and to not neglect our Indigenous people because that gives permission to predators and serial killers,” she said Sunday. Dozens attended the rally and candlelight vigil at Grandview Park, which began at 3 p.m.

“We’ve done the work as indigenous people. We’ve done the work. Now it’s policing, RCMP and the government's time to step into the circle with us.” JB said.

She added she’s horrified that police and investigators in Winnipeg won’t search the landfill where they believe the remains of Harris and Myran are. Officers in charge say the amount of time that’s passed once police became aware the bodies could be there, coupled with the amount of garbage that’s accumulated, make the chances of finding the remains near impossible.

“Indigenous women matter and their lives are worth looking for even if they’re in a landfill,” said JB.

Four charges of first-degree murder have been laid against Jeremy Skibicki.