The families of two indigenous women murdered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, had long campaigned for the site to be searched.

The search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran has officially started at Prairie Green landfill, north of Winnipeg.The dig began Monday morning, Premier Wab Kinew announced at a noon news conference.

Excavation and sifting started of a section of a landfill believed to hold the remains of two slain First Nations women. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said he was at the site when the first truck moved a load of refuse from the area to where searchers are manually sifting through it in the hope of finding the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran.