The Prairie Green landfill in Stony Mountain, Man., is shown on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski

WINNIPEG - The interim leader of Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives apologized Wednesday to the families of two slain First Nations women after refusing to search a landfill for their remains and touting the decision in a provincial election campaign ad.

Wayne Ewasko offered an "unconditional" apology in the house to the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.

"We lost our way in regards to empathy and also lost our way in regards to closure being brought forward to the families of the victims," he said.

"We will ... be better as a party moving forward, and you have my word on that."

Potential human remains were discovered last week at the Winnipeg-area landfill.

It’s believed the remains of Harris and Myran ended up at the Prairie Green landfill in May 2022. Jeremy Skibicki was arrested in the killings of the women and two others and was later convicted of first-degree murder.

The Progressive Conservatives led by then-premier Heather Stefanson were in government, when the families presented them with a feasibility study outlining how a search could be done. Winnipeg police had refused to do a search because of safety concerns.

The Tories later cited the same safety reasons for not supporting the dig. They also ran ads during the 2023 election campaign that promoted their decision.

The NDP government, elected that year, promised a search and with the federal government funded the effort that began in December.

The province announced last week that possible remains had been found but that it could take weeks for coroners to make an identification.

A daughter of Harris said she was conflicted about the apology.

"I'm questioning why this apology was released publicly and I wonder if it was because they were genuinely sorry or if it was just to save face because they were wrong and our families were right from the very beginning," Cambria Harris said in a video statement posted online.

She later said in a message to The Canadian Press that the apology came as a surprise, as no one from the party had been in touch about it before with her family.

Ewasko told reporters that he welcomed an opportunity to speak with the families in the future.

Harris said the Tories had numerous opportunities to meet with the families but didn't.

"Not much hope for the future. Our families have done the work, now it's up to them to prove us otherwise that they can be better human beings," she said.

Premier Wab Kinew responded to the apology in the house, saying the Tories have a long way to go to gain back trust from the families and Manitobans.

"It remains to be seen whether the Progressive Conservative party ... will learn (from) the terrible mistakes of Heather Stefanson and take those going forward," he said.

"It's up to them to show that through their actions now."

A trial heard Skibicki targeted the four Indigenous victims at homeless shelters in Winnipeg and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins in his neighbourhood.

The remains of Rebecca Contois were found in a garbage bin and at a different landfill. Those of an unidentified woman Indigenous grassroots community members named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, have not been located and police have not said where they might be.

Ewasko wouldn't comment further on the party's decision to run the election ad campaign but said there could have been more internal conversations around it.

"Looking back, wish we had a DeLorean (car) but we don't, so I'm hoping that with today's apology on behalf of caucus, myself and the party that ... we are going to do better," Ewasko said, referencing the vehicle in the time travel movie "Back to the Future."

He said advice from within the party suggested it focus on the legal outcome of the trial and that conducting a search could jeopardize that.

Tory leadership candidate Obby Khan, who was a government cabinet minister at the time, deflected questions on whether he agreed with the apology.

"I think that's a question for the current interim leader to answer. When I become leader, I will have my statement going forward on that," Khan told reporters.

"Right now our interim leader has spoken and his comments are clear on (where) he stands."

— With files from Steve Lambert

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 5, 2025.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version misquoted a word from Cambria Harris.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025