On Tuesday, September 5 at 4:00 p.m. (CDT), Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) National Bishop Susan Johnson will join four other church leaders and visit Camp Morgan at Winnipeg’s Brady Road landfill.
The leaders are calling for justice, a search of Prairie Green landfill, and an end to the violence against Indigenous women, children, and Two-Spirit people.
Camp Morgan has been situated near the entrance of the Brady Road landfill since December 2022. It is one of two current camps (Camp Mercedes at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights) within Winnipeg honouring the lives of two missing and murdered Indigenous women, Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, who are believed to be homicide victims buried within Winnipeg’s major dumping stations.
Bishop Johnson will join in solidarity with The Right Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, Moderator of the United Church of Canada, The Rev. Mary Fontaine, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, The Rt. Rev. Chris Harper, National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop and Presiding Elder of the Sacred Circle, and The Rev. Canon Dr. Murray Still, Co-Chair of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples, in calling for an immediate search of Prairie Green landfill.
“I always hope that I am going to learn something new, and that my voice can be used in a more positive way,” Bishop Johnson says. “Whether we can change what’s happening in terms of the landfill is one thing, but whether we can continue to speak out against missing and murdered indigenous women and girls in a more passionate and knowable way would also be a benefit anyhow.”
Having long served as an advocate of the World Council of Churches’ Thursdays in Black – an initiative to curb the tragic realities of gender-based violence – Bishop Johnson says that if the leaders’ actions go unanswered by the province, the next steps would involve following up with phone calls and the writing of letters to politicians of all levels of government.
Spearheaded by the United Church of Canada and led by the four denominational leaders of the major churches, the gathering on September 5 will be open to the public, to which other faith-based leaders and followers are encouraged to attend.
“People are more than welcome to come out and join us,” said Bishop Johnson. “It doesn’t just have to be church leaders.”
For more coverage, please visit:
https://united-church.ca/news/action-support-voices-camp-marcedes-and-camp-morgan
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/church-leaders-manitoba-landfill-search-1.6950423
https://globalnews.ca/news/9925834/canadian-churches-join-call-manitoba-landfill-search/
