Juanita Hill, a 71-year-old residential school survivor from the Shuswap Nation passed away after being relocated to the Prestige Hotel following a fire in her apartment on Dec. 25.

The Hill family has since launched a to help cover funeral expenses as they navigate this heartbreaking loss and the financial burdens that have followed the family's relocation.

The events

Murray Hill, Juanita's husband, mentioned that his family, including Juanita, celebrated a Christmas Eve event before retiring to their rooms for the night. At around 1:30 a.m., the fire alarm went off, prompting all 99 residents of the Sherbrook Apartments to evacuate immediately due to a fire that had broken out on the roof.

"My wife was wheelchair-bound because she had pulmonary fibrosis; it's a disease of the lungs that limited her," said Hill.

An RCMP officer assisted Juanita by carrying her down the stairs.

"It was very immediate, it was very scary," said Hill.

The evacuation happened so quickly that there was no time to grab the essentials, he noted.

"It was basically getting dressed and leaving, or not even getting dressed and just leaving," he added.

The evacuees were initially sent to the Civic Centre and later relocated to either the Prestige Hotel or the Highliner Hotel. As of Jan. 2, they have not yet received the green light to return to their homes. The Salvation Army is assisting by providing donations of essential items and food.

"We were in there for at least a couple of days, and then my wife, she was using the washroom and then she fell, and then she hit her head, I think it was against the door," Hill told The Northern View.

No access to the local ER

The Hill family immediately dialed 911 to take Juanita to the Prince Rupert Regional Hospital but were turned away due to an ER closure.

As per Northern Health, due to ongoing staffing challenges, the ER was closed on both Dec. 26 between 2 p.m. and 8 a.m. and on Dec. 27 from 2 p.m. to midnight.

On Dec. 27 at 9:30 p.m., the ambulance redirected Hill to the Ksyen Regional Hospital in Terrace, an hour and 40 minutes away from the Prestige.

Juanita was moved to the intensive care unit, where she was sedated and placed on a ventilator. However, by that time, Hill's anesthesiologist stated that Juanita would not be able to endure a tube into her lung, which could have helped improve her state otherwise.

"She said my wife's current condition was pretty low... she probably wouldn't survive the insertion of the tube into her lung," said Hill. The family had to decide to leave her in that condition after the hospital staff assured them that she would receive painkillers.

"And my wife, she held on, she held on, and all we did was just talk to her," said Hill. He had several family members and friends talk to her. "I think that she, she had heard everybody. And I said my prayers over, we played songs for her. But anyway, it eventually progressed and she wasn't responding to anything. So she, she eventually passed at 1:32 in the morning [Dec. 28]."

"I'm sure if that service was available at that time in Prince Rupert, I don't know how things would have turned out. There's no way of saying how things would have turned out."

Funeral preparations

Hill says Juanita was greatly loved in both Prince Rupert and Williams Lake, and her husband refers to her as "the hospitable one of the two."

"We have a GoFundMe page to help us with the funeral arrangements," said Hill.

Family friend Nathan Haldone has created the online memorial page for Juanita, who battled pulmonary fibrosis for several years. She is survived by her husband, Murray Hill, from the Kitkatla Nation. They have two sons, two daughters, a loving lineage of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and a black cat called Bubbles.

"The family is left with this sudden turn of heartbreaking events and without a home to live in, they are finding this travel through rough waters a difficult one," mentioned Haldone on GoFundMe.

Remembering Juanita

"Emergency service workers, they bent over backwards for us. I totally commend them for everything that they've done for all of us people at the Sherbrooke apartments," said Hill.

"My wife was very wonderful...I know she taught me a lot of things and I'm really gonna miss her. We went to church together, that was one of our favourite activities and after the services we always managed to bring some sandwiches. She was serving up soup for other parishioners and everybody remembers that, especially in Williams Lake," says Hill.

In the past, Juanita worked at the fish cannery in Prince Rupert before she and Hill moved to Williams Lake for eight years after Rupert's pulp mill closed.

Juanita Hill's viewing will occur on Jan. 7 at 1:30 p.m. at MacKay's Funeral Home in Terrace. Her Celebration of Life will be held at the Church of Christ the King in Port Edward on Jan. 10, 2025.

As of Jan. 3, the evacuees of the Christmas fire are still at hotels with no update on when they can move back into their homes. Macro Properties, the owner of Sherbrooke Apartments is managing their accommodation.

The investigation into the incident was handed over from the Fire Department to the RCMP. The police are investigating the cause.