Woman tells missing, murdered inquiry about pain of growing up without mom – CP

Source: The Canadian Press
Sep 26, 2017 

SMITHERS, B.C. _ A British Columbia woman told the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women of the pain of growing up without a mother and trying to numb that hurt with alcohol.

Vicki Hill says her mother’s naked body was found in 1978 along the so-called Highway of Tears, a stretch of Highway 16 where dozens of women have disappeared or been killed.

She says a coroner’s inquest concluded 31-year-old Mary Jane Hill died of bronchitis and pneumonia as a result of manslaughter after being left on the side of the highway, and her killing has never been solved.

Hill was only six months old when her mother died and she told the hearing in Smithers, B.C., that living without her has been a struggle and she became a heavy drinker for a while to cope.

She says it’s unfair that her mom won’t be there when her son or daughter graduates, or when she needs her the most.

Hill called on the commissioners to listen to families and bring them justice, adding she’d like to see improved cell phone service and transportation along the Highway of Tears.

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