What a shock: Family of Tanya Nepinak says announcement of landfill search news to them

Family members are welcoming news of a landfill search for their missing loved one, Tanya Nepinak, in Winnipeg. But they’re disappointed they didn’t hear it from Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew first. “I’m happy but I’m not happy the way I had to find out,” said Sue Caribou, the aunt of Tanya Nepinak. “What a shock it was.” Kinew told a hastily arranged news conference Wednesday that the province is preparing to search the Brady Road landfill in a few months for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose and then Tanya Nepinak. It is news Caribou, an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, has been waiting to hear for more than a decade. “They should have reached out to us and let us know [before announcing it publicly],” she told APTN News Thursday. “It surprised me. “When you’re going to tell such a huge [piece of] news about one of our loved ones, you should make sure the family knows first.” A spokesperson for Kinew said he was surprised by Caribou’s strong reaction, noting the premier didn’t say anything Wednesday he hadn’t already said before. APTN was not notified about the news conference. News of the search reached Vernon Mann, the father of Nepinak’s children, through a friend Wednesday evening. “I’m happy,” Mann told APTN. “I’m surprised.” Kinew told reporters the search crew would concentrate on looking for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose, who was slain by a convicted serial killer in March 2022, first. “We have the information about the [disposal site] cell [in the landfill] where we believe she’s located,” the premier said. “But we are making plans to search for Tanya Nepinak as well.” “… I want folks to understand, because we have to speak to that family as well, too, that we’re going to be proceeding sequentially. Meaning we will do the search for Ashlee and then a search for Tanya.” Nepinak is believed to have been murdered by a different serial killer in Winnipeg in 2011. Both victims’ remains were disposed of in city garbage bins and trucked to the landfill in the south end of the city. Kinew said the city and Winnipeg Police Service would be partners with the province in the search effort. “But we need to share a bit more detail with the family before we can talk about that stage of it publicly,” he noted. The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs [AMC], an advocacy group for First Nations communities in the province, welcomed the news. “Today’s announcement brings hope to these families and to all First Nations in Manitoba,” AMC Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said in a news release. “On behalf of the AMC, I thank Premier Wab Kinew and the Province of Manitoba for taking these important steps, and for engaging directly with the families.” Kinew, meanwhile, said he had been meeting with Shingoose’s parents – Albert and Theresa – during the summer to talk about the search for their daughter. “They have been evacuated from St. Theresa [Point First Nation in northern Manitoba due to wildfires] and we used the fact that they’re here in Winnipeg more often to [meet with them],” the premier said. The couple is scheduled to deliver their victim impact statements on Friday during a special hearing of the Manitoba Court of King’s Bench. Their daughter wasn’t officially identified until months after the trial ended. Kinew extended condolences on behalf of his NDP government. “So, on behalf of the province of Manitoba – everybody out there with a beating heart – I just want to extend our support to them and our sympathy for the loss of their daughter.” Continue Reading