Monday, March 10, 2025

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Morgan Harris, left, Marcedes Myran, and Rebecca Contois. (Courtesy Winnipeg Police Service / Darryl Contois)

Officials in Manitoba have identified one of two sets of remains found last month at a Winnipeg landfill site.

As Dan Karpenchuk reports, police have confirmed those remains belong to one of four Indigenous women murdered by a convicted serial killer.

The remains of Morgan Harris were positively identified by forensic officials. They were found two weeks ago at a landfill, north of Winnipeg.

A second set of remains have not yet been identified but are likely those of another victim of serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, an Indigenous woman known only as Buffalo Woman.

Advocates for missing and murdered Indigenous people (MMIP) are praising the Harris’ family for their strength and determination after they fought to the search of the landfill site.

Praise also came from Manitoba premier Wab Kinew (Onigaming First Nation).

“So I don’t think of us would ever want our loved ones to go through what Morgan Harris went through. However, through this journey, we have seen some remarkable strength, resilience, and power from the family of Morgan.”

Sheila North, a former grand chief of northern of a group of northern Manitoba first nations, also acknowledged the strength and lover of the families for their efforts.

And Premier Kinew says he hopes the family will have some sense of closure and healing now that they will be able to hold a sacred ceremony to memorialize here.

The families of MMIP worked alongside forensic anthropology students to search the landfill.

Some Indigenous leaders and advocates who pushed for the search said the remains wouldn’t have been found without the efforts of the Canadian government and the current provincial government.

Winnipeg police and the former Conservative government of Manitoba argued against searching the landfill, because of safety concerns.

(Courtesy AMC Networks)

The hit thriller-mystery show Dark Winds kicked off its third season over the weekend.

The new episodes have Navajo police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee investigating the disappearance of two boys, and an Federal Bureau of Investigation agent probing the death of the wealthy and powerful B.J. Vines from last season.

Zahn McClarnon plays Leaphorn.

“Season three’s basically a continuation of the exploration of the tragedy that befell the Leaphorn family from the previous seasons – with their son, the ramification of their son’s death – what consequences come to Joe Leaphorn for his actions he did last season, how it affects his mental state, and how it affects his marriage with his wife Emma.”

The third lead in Dark Winds is Jessica Matten, who plays Bernadette Manuelito.

Season three finds her hundreds of miles away working with the U.S. Border Patrol.

Matten wasn’t available for an interview with National Native News, but co-star Kiowa Gordon says her character and Jim Chee still connect.

“Jim’s not one to give up on something that he wants in his life. So I don’t think we’ve seen the last of that pairing between Bernadette and Jim Chee because, even though there may be some love triangle forming through (laughs) this Ivan character, I think we can’t ever count out Chee and Bernadette having a reunion, and I’d hold on to that hope.”

Meanwhile, showrunner John Wirth says the series’ success comes from revisiting Tony Hillerman’s novels through the lens of Navajo and other Native American cast and crew members, including consultants.

“It’s a wonderfully functional-dysfunctional group of people. (laughs) All of us have the same desire to tell a really gripping story and to honor the traditions out of which these characters come. Both the fictional world of Hillerman and also the historical world and the real world of the Navajo Nation.”

Dark Winds airs Sundays on AMC.