Grand Chief responds to protests over search for Nepinak remains

Critics discuss police’s handling of landfill-sifting effort

AMC Grand Chief Derek Nepinak says he has participated in “long meetings” with former police chief Keith McCaskill as well as current top cop Devon Clunis about Tanya Nepinak. Carson Hammond

The search for Tanya Nepinak’s remains has been suspended for more than a month, but public debate over the issue continues to rage on both sides.

Protestors hoisting pictures of the 31-year-old aboriginal woman, missing since September 2011 and believed to be buried somewhere in the Brady Road Landfill, gathered at City Hall in late October and have returned periodically since, suggesting the suspension after six days of initial searching reveals an underlying problem of racism.

Their demand: police should renew their search for the alleged murder victim in order to bring closure to her family.

Derek Nepinak, Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, says he sympathizes with protestors’ grief, but not necessarily their logic.

“It’s always easy to say that racism is impacting decisions that are made at an institutional level,” said Nepinak. “But I’m not going to resort to that. In the work that I’ve done with the police service, I’ve experienced nothing but respect and commitment towards addressing this issue.”

Police believe Tanya Nepinak was killed and subsequently buried at the Brady Road Landfill by alleged serial killer Shawn Lamb following her disappearance last year.

Lamb, 52, has since been charged with three counts of second-degree murder.

Winnipeg Police officials declined to comment on the protests, however they confirmed the investigation into her suspected murder is still ongoing.

Nepinak, a distant cousin from the same reserve as the allegedly murdered woman, said he’s participated in numerous “long meetings” about the case with former police chief Keith McCaskill as well as current top cop Devon Clunis.

However, he remains adamant that certain steps need to be taken to combat broader problems.

“We need a public inquiry into murdered or missing indigenous women and we need to talk about how best to resolve or at least reduce these types of incidents,” said Nepinak. “It’s not an easy discussion. I do believe (police) put their best effort forward, though, with the information they had (in this specific case).”

Local police have also drawn criticism for their use of aboriginal spiritual leaders in assisting with their search, who reportedly identified specific areas of the landfill site to be searched based on unscientific evidence.

Dennis Lewycky, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, says police weren’t wrong to resort to plan-B measures.

“We have to approve of anything the police can do to find the body,” said Lewycky. “If the scientific approach doesn’t succeed, there isn’t any harm in giving the spiritual approach a shot.”

Lewycky, however, agrees police might have bungled the decision on a public relations level.

“They seem to have had a very poor communications rapport with the community through all of this.”

Ultimately, however, it’s important police continue the search for Nepinak any way they can, says Lewycky.

“This is a social problem, and we as a society are in many ways responsible for incidents like these,” he added.
“Society has a commitment to find her body - no matter the cost.”

Margaret Haworth-Brockman, executive director of the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of Excellence, a research body affiliated with the University of Winnipeg, says violent cases like Nepinak’s represent “a pervasive disregard for aboriginal women” by some members of society.

According to Haworth-Brockman, aboriginal women are disproportionately represented among victims of violence in Manitoba.

“It’s not about ‘other people,’” she stressed. “It’s about us.”

Published in Volume 67, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 21, 2012)

Related Reads