On a cold, damp morning, police began their search at the Saskatoon landfill on Wednesday as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Mackenzie Lee Trottier in 2020.

The search is expected to last up to 33 days.

With a large white tent where police will work behind it, Paul Trottier, Mackenzie Trottier's father, said it is a place "no one wants to be in."

He added, "I think anyone in my position can understand the emotions involved," "The sheer amount of work being done behind us is staggering."

The search will focus on a specific area of the landfill.

Sergeant Corey Linius of Saskatoon police said excavators have spent the past two weeks removing the "weight" over the area they need to search, which totals about 930 cubic meters.

Linius added, "When you talk about a landfill, there is a lot of compaction, and the things that a landfill does are packed down. We have the time and the weather and it's hard to determine the condition that anything we may be looking for could be in at this point, based on the time elapsed, and based on all the environmental issues, and based on the process the landfill is working on."

Linius said the investigation has given officers a lead on garbage trucks that should be tracked, and police were then able to obtain GPS tracking coordinates for those trucks from the city.

With the help of city landfill engineers, police were able to identify the "interesting layer" to investigate. Teams of 14 officers, along with specially trained dogs to find human remains, will work daily to sift through items in the area they are looking at.

Linius said the work would be "meticulous" and "exhausting."

Trottier, who was 22 years old when she disappeared, was last seen on December 21, 2020.

Her family has worked to raise awareness of her case, including running a poster campaign across the provinces in 2021 and offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to her return.

Her father Paul said on Wednesday that while this search is about his daughter, it is also about all missing people.

He continued, "That's what I want people to remember." "This is a family, this is a person. All missing people, regardless of their past, are human beings, and deserve our attention."

The Métis Nation Saskatchewan (MN-S) issued a statement supporting the search.

The statement read: "While the search of a landfill is very concerning, MN-S is optimistic that this case has not been forgotten, as is often the case with missing and murdered Indigenous people."

Targeted search in Saskatoon

In Winnipeg, there have been calls for a search of the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women—Morgan Harris and Mercedes Myron—who are believed to be victims of a serial killer.

This search, estimated to cost $90 million, has not yet taken place. However, in March, the federal government and provincial governments allocated $20 million each.

Juli Kay, an assistant professor of sociology at the U of S, said that the targeted nature of the search in Saskatoon may have expedited matters.

She continued, "In terms of the specific case they are searching the landfill for, I think there is some uniqueness to that as they were able to identify a more targeted location." "Thus, the critical case, and the question related to the amount of costs, is not of great importance."

A spokesperson for Saskatoon police said the cost of the search at the Saskatoon landfill, if it continues for the full 33 days, is estimated at about $200,000, including staff and equipment. The investigative unit has a reserve fund to cover these expenses.

Preliminary search at the landfill

Saskatoon police have experience in searching a landfill, as demonstrated in the podcast they released last year regarding the disappearance of Candice Singsby.

Singsby, a 32-year-old mother, went missing in 2015. At one point, police thought she may have been killed and placed in a garbage bin in downtown. It turned out not to be the case, but the podcast detailed how police handled the search process.

They used cadaver dog teams from the Calgary Police Service, and forensic anthropology expert Ernie Walker assisted in the search.

Calgary police will also assist Walker in the search for Trottier.