3 days ago
Friends of victim of Lapu-Lapu tragedy support benefit concert but wishes city had involved the community
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Jada Stevens says she's looking forward to celebrating the life of her friend, Kira Salim, at the end of this month.
"We want to bring in all of the facets of Kira that made them a completely wonderful person," Stevens said from her Vancouver home.
"So we're going to be bringing in their Brazilian culture. We're going to be bringing in the LGBTQ community. We have drag performances. [Drag performer] Kendall Gender is going to be there."
Salim, 34, was one of 11 people killed when a car rammed through the crowd at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in East Vancouver on April 26.
Stevens says she's been grieving with Salim's loved ones in Vancouver since, supporting one another through the process and planning a celebration of life for their friend, which they're holding on June 22.
So hearing that the City of Vancouver had decided to move forward with a large-scale memorial event for the tragedy's victims, without involving them in those plans, she said, came as a shock to her and Salim's other friends.
On Tuesday, Vancouver city councillors voted in favour of a last-minute motion to move forward with what had then been described as a memorial event. It was being planned for Rogers Arena during the month of June, which is Filipino Heritage Month.
Filipino B.C., the organizers of the Lapu Lapu Day festival, said families of the victims hadn't been consulted — which Stevens echoed.
"It's really difficult to comprehend what a memorial for a loved one will look like if the loved ones haven't been engaged on the memorial," Stevens said.
"We feel a little bit disrespected. We do want to support this event. We do want it to take place, but it would just have been a little bit kinder of the city to respect our needs for information and to be a part of the planning process."
Stevens said it would've made things complicated had the city planned the event on the same day as Salim's celebration of life, and some communication would've helped.
She also said they're concerned the planned event would be "a little bit too soon."
"We are still going through the many complicated stages of grief, and that's a very private feeling," she said.
"So the benefit concert, well, we do support it. We would just like it to take place a little bit later. If we had been consulted by the city, that's what we would have told them."
WATCH | Community organization says city didn't consult with families on memorial event
Filipino B.C. says it wasn't consulted before city vote on Lapu-Lapu Day memorial
17 hours ago
Duration 2:01
A memorial and benefit concert at Rogers Arena for victims of Vancouver's Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy won't move ahead exactly as proposed. Earlier this week, city council voted in favour of going ahead with the event. But as Jon Hernandez reports, community leaders say victims and their families weren't consulted.
In a statement to CBC News Thursday morning, the Office of the Mayor of Vancouver said council has unanimously passed a resolution calling for the event, since confirmed to be a benefit concert, to "undertake additional consultation with victims and families."
They also said they're "moving away from the term 'memorial' as to not accidentally mischaracterize it as a formal memorial service for the victims."
Crystal Laderas with Filipino B.C. told CBC News on Thursday that they've yet to have a comprehensive discussion with the city on the next steps with regard to the benefit concert.
"What we're seeing here is a gap," she said.
"While we are satisfied with the community consultation, and the City of Vancouver's communication with us, we're going to be asking the same questions whether it's a temporary memorial or this memorial event or benefit concert — have you spoken to the families yet?"
40 days after tragedy has community significance
With June 5 marking 40 days since the tragedy, a memorial mass is being held at St. Andrew's Parish church in East Vancouver to honour and pray for the victims of the alleged attack.
In Filipino Catholic tradition, the 40th day after death is believed to be when the soul's journey on earth has ended and ascended to heaven, says Narima Dela Cruz, founding president of the Philippine Asian National Congress.
"It is usually marked by a remembrance and a get-together by family and friends, marked by prayers, offering of flowers, and if there is a memorial, as in the case of the Lapu-Lapu tragedy, then a visit to the place [of the incident]," she said.
In a statement Thursday morning, Filipino B.C. says the 40th day "holds deep spiritual meaning."
"It is believed that the soul remains close to us during these 40 days, before finding peace and fully departing from the physical world.
"This is not closure," the statement goes on to say.
