Question Period Note: Prairie Green Landfill

• The violent deaths of Indigenous women in Winnipeg, and elsewhere in Canada, are heartbreaking and a painful reminder of the national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people.

• The Prairie Green Landfill Feasibility Study Report, completed in May 2023, concluded that a search of the landfill is feasible.

• An Inter-Related Operational Planning Report received on January 24, 2024 sets out in greater detail how a potential search of the Prairie Green Landfill might be undertaken. The content of this most recent report is being carefully reviewed.

• Our priority remains to make sure work is done in a respectful, culturally-sensitive and trauma-informed manner, with principal consideration given to the needs of families.

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If pressed on what the federal government will do next

• The best possible way forward in respect of potentially launching and conducting a search of the Prairie Green Landfill would be for families, First Nation leadership, and the federal and provincial governments to work together.

• We will not take any action without first understanding the needs and objectives of the other parties concerned, principally, the families of victims and other jurisdictions.

• Discussions with the newly elected Government of Manitoba will begin as soon as possible to work toward an approach and achieve an outcome that will bring some closure for families and community members.