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Sister Of Murdered Quebec Mohawk Woman Still Seeking Answers 10 Years Later

The Canadian Press, 18 Jun, 2016 11:49 AM
    MONTREAL — Tiffany Morrison's bones were found in a wooded area on May 31, 2010, four years after she left her home near Montreal to meet some friends.
     
    Now, 10 years to the day since the 24-year-old went missing on June 18, 2006, her family still doesn't know who killed her.
     
    "It's a constant unknown," her sister, Melanie Morrison, said in an interview.
     
    "We know she suffered, we know she would have put up a fight, and to think that after 10 years there hasn't been anyone to speak up, it bothers you every day. How can you live with that?"
     
    On Saturday, Morrison is hosting a march and vigil in the Kahnawake Mohawk community to mark the 10-year anniversary and renew the push to find her killer.
     
    "Just because we found her remains, it doesn't mean we're able to move on and that this is over," she said. "There is still somebody out there who did this to her and we still need answers."
     
    On the night she disappeared, Tiffany went to a bar in the Montreal suburb of LaSalle to check out some live music.
     
    Just before midnight, she was seen getting into a taxi with a man who also lived in Kahnawake, 20 kilometres southwest of Montreal.
     
    According to Morrison, the man told police he got out first and that he didn't remember any other details about the evening.
     
    After that, the family received few answers until four years later when a construction worker found Tiffany's bones just a 10-minute walk from where she'd lived.
     
    Tiffany was "a ball of energy," the life of every family gathering and the mother of a four-year-old girl, her sister said.
     
    "She was the one who would come and get you when you're feeling down, pick you up in her truck and take you mountain climbing," Morrison said.
     
    Morrison, who has since become involved with groups that advocate on behalf of missing and murdered indigenous women, is calling for changes to the way police handle similar cases.
     
    She said local police, who were contacted several days after Tiffany didn't come home, didn't take the case seriously enough at first.
     
    "They told us to be patient, that she was probably out with friends," she said. "But we told them, 'that's not her normal behaviour, that if she's not going to be back, she calls,'" Morrison said.
     
    Police were also unable to identify the taxi company or to locate the driver.
     
    The case was transferred to provincial police after the remains were found, but by then too much time had passed to determine the exact cause of death.
     
    Morrison wonders if things might have been different had they been called in earlier.
     
    A $75,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest and Morrison says her family will not stop pushing for answers.
     
    Saturday's event will also feature a butterfly display made by local schoolchildren, designed to raise awareness of the broader issue of missing and murdered indigenous women.
     
    "I want to help young kids think about safety and about what's happening to our people," Morrison said. "I want to make sure this doesn't happen to another family."

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