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In Canada, potential human remains have been discovered at a landfill site near Winnipeg.
And families of two Indigenous women, who fought to have the landfill site searched, are hopeful that their struggle was not in vain.
As Dan Karpenchuk reports, the two women were victims of a convicted serial killer.
The Prairie Green Landfill, just outside Winnipeg, has been the site of a search since December.
It’s where the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcades Myran are believed to have been buried. The former government of Manitoba and the police rejected calls to search the site, in part, because of asbestos and toxic material at the location, and they said there was no guarantee the remains would be found.
Wab Kinew (Onigaming First Nation) is the premier of Manitoba and spoke to family members of the victims.
“I hope this is, in some way, a vindication because you’ve been saying the whole time, that should move ahead with search. Now we found what the experts tells us are human remains, There are two forensic anthropologists on site. They both double check the work here and they said these are human remains. And so now the RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] and the chief medical examiner are going to doing the identification process.”
Kinew says officials don’t know yet if the remains are in fact the victims of the families. That process could take a couple of weeks.
In a statement, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs says the discovery is a a painful but significant moment in the fight for justice.
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson says the families deserve answers and deserve to lay their loved ones to rest with the dignity and respect that has so often been denied to Indigenous women.
Jeremy Skibicki was convicted last July of four counts of first degree murder in the killings of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg in 2022.
The possible remains found recently, could be that of Harris and Myran.
He was also found guilty in deaths of Rebecca Contois, and a still unidentified women known only as Buffalo Woman.
A new report shows North Dakota’s five tribal colleges contribute nearly $170 million to the state’s economy.
Mike Moen reports.
The data was issued by the North Dakota Tribal College System.
The report indicates between 2022 and 2023, North Dakotans saw added tax revenue and public-sector savings of more than $30 million.
Dr. Tracey Bauer, executive director of the college system, says alumni add even more economic activity when they work in their communities after graduation.
Tribal college advocates see this as positive impacts, but there’s concern about Trump administration actions.
Bauer says tribal colleges are largely funded by federal grants. She warns a lot might change if federal cuts reach North Dakota’s tribal colleges.
“It’s going to possibly lead to staff layoffs, increases in tuition – to kind of make up some of that lost funding, [and] even campus program closures.”
The American Indian College Fund (AICF) stresses that tribal colleges should be exempt from executive orders due to treaty and trust obligations of the federal government.
AICF president and CEO Cheryl Crazy Bull says, as the uncertainty unfolds, organizations like hers are preparing to help these schools adjust.
“Providing resources for institutions to hire adjunct faculty, or helping students with transfer programming.”
The leaders say tribal colleges and universities were set up to provide a more cultural and welcoming learning environment, while giving students flexibility to overcome barriers to enrolling.
Meanwhile, of the 37 tribal higher education institutions across the country, only two are federally operated and they’re feeling the impacts of the Trump administration’s federal workforce reductions – Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kan., and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, N.M.
While tribal higher education advocates urge for exemptions, Haskell students have been holding protests.
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