Mourners will march silently through the streets of New Orleans Thursday to honour a Canadian filmmaker who was gunned down in her home in the increasingly violent city.

Helen Hill, 36, was killed last week by an intruder who broke into her small white house and opened fire on her and her family.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Helen Hill after funeral services Wednesday at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Columbia, S.C.
(Mary Ann Chastain/Associated Press)

Hill's husband, Paul Gailiunas, survived the attack and is recovering from three bullet wounds. The couple's two-year-old son was not hurt.

Hill's funeral was to be held Wednesday afternoon.

Hill is one of a growing number of victims in New Orleans, where the murder rate is on the rise.

In the first 10 days of the new year, nine people have been killed in the city of 200,000 people, local reporter Helena Moreno told CBC News Wednesday.

Last year was also violent — 161 people killed in 12 months.

Becky Lewis, holds her grandson, Francis, 2, as they leave St. Paul's Lutheran Church after funeral services for her daughter, Helen Hill.
(Mary Ann Chastain/Associated Press)

Moreno said Hill's neighbours and friends are planning a silent march to commemorate Hill, and to honour the other eight people killed this year.

It will also be a protest of the growing violence in New Orleans.

"Neighbours, they were just outraged by [Hill's] murder," said Moreno, who works for the New Orleans television station WDSU. "They considered her to be just an angel in the neighbourhood."

Moreno said the city's rising murder rate can be blamed on several social issues, including a growing drug problem.

"But it's much more than the drug trade," she said. "It's the education system in New Orleans. It's also the poverty level in New Orleans."

Police have set up overnight checkpoints in the city, checking cars for drugs and illegal weapons, Moreno said.

The violence has grown since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in August 2005. The city used to have about 450,000 residents, but more than half fled.

But the crime rate was already brewing before the storm, Moreno said. She said 264 people were murdered in the city in 2004.

"This murder problem has been a big one in the city of New Orleans for quite some time," she said."Of course, now it's resurging."

Hill was a compassionate social activist

Hill was passionate about helping New Orleans cope with its social problems.

Born and raised in South Carolina, she moved to Halifax in 1995 and became a Canadian citizen. She made a name for herself in the city as a social activist and an animator.

She and her husband, a doctor, moved to New Orleans in 2001 and set up a medical clinic for people with little money and no health insurance.

Her brother, Jacob Hill, told CBC News on Wednesday that people remember his sister as a kind, compassionate activist who was a talented filmmaker.

"But I'm remembering her in a different way, as she was my little sister," said Jacob, who is three years older.

"We grew up together …. She was my constant."

Hill's funeral was held in her hometown of Columbia, S.C.