Latest news with #Lapu-LapuDay
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Lapu-Lapu murder suspect to face trial on mental fitness
Kai-Ji Adam Lo, the suspect in the Vancouver street festival tragedy that left 11 people dead and dozens injured, will face a two-day trial later this summer to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial for murder. Mark Swartz, Lo's lawyer, requested the trial at a hearing Friday in Vancouver Provincial Court to confirm an in-custody mental health assessment has been completed. The mental fitness trial will be scheduled to run for two days, likely in July, under presiding Judge Reginald Harris. Lo will be required to attend in person. Lo is accused of driving his SUV through a crowd of people at the Filipino community's Lapu-Lapu Day street festival on April 26. He is charged with eight counts of second-degree murder. A five-year-old girl, eight women and two men were killed in the car-ramming. Lo appeared in court Friday via video from where he is being held. He had unruly hair, a thin moustache and was wearing a black sweatshirt. Crown prosecutor Michaela Donnelly requested an updated psychological report be done in the weeks before the mental fitness trial. Harris agreed, stating that in his experience in similar type cases that mental health can change and evolve "dramatically." Some details revealed in Lo's court proceedings so far are under a publication ban and Swartz indicated he will be asking for a similar ban on evidence brought at the trial. Harris said he is required to balance the open court system and the right of media to inform the public versus the possibility of tainting a future jury in a murder trial — if the case comes to that — and preserving Lo's charter right to a fair trial.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
1 month later, Lapu-Lapu Day witness, victim reflect on their experiences
Rosadene Alcala Apeles was thinking of packing their jewelry booth at the end of the Lapu-Lapu Day festival just over a month ago when they spotted an SUV driving very quickly towards them. Apeles says their table was located close to the unprotected barrier that closed off 43rd Avenue for food trucks and vendors at the festival. "I saw that black SUV — it was coming in pretty hot, and I felt like, this is a school zone. Why is it going so fast?" they told CBC's On the Coast host Gloria Macarenko. "And then the car just didn't stop." Apeles heard tires screeching. And then the car raced out of view. They soon realized they had just witnessed the first injury and the first casualty that took place that evening. It's been just over a month since the Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy occurred on April 26. Eleven people were killed, and dozens more were injured. The victims include a mother visiting her sons from the Philippines, a family that had come to Canada to escape violence in Colombia, another family that left behind a 16-year-old son who had stayed home that day, and a high school teacher. Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, has since been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in connection with the crash. Witnesses and those who were injured at the event say they are still recovering — mentally and physically — from what they saw and experienced. "I think that fundamentally I am a different person than I was at the start of that day," Apeles said. "I have come to terms that this event is going to be part of who I am, whether that be for the better or the worse." Some witnesses and victims also say the past month has been a time to reflect: about their community, their families and the state of mental health care in B.C. Apeles, who works as a mental health support worker and harm reduction specialist, says the tragedy has underscored the need for more support for those suffering from mental illness. "If we want a healthy society where these tragedies don't happen, we need to acknowledge that we can't sweep these tragedies under the rug," they said. "The people who enabled this to happen have to apologize. They have to make commitments to do better." Christi-Ann Watkins, 43, performed and helped produce the show at the festival. Her 11-year-old son Knox had performed as well. They had just wrapped up at the main stage and decided to grab a bite to eat at one of the food vendors. She was feeling happy about how well everything had turned out. "The vibe was great," Watkins told BC Today host Michelle Eliot. "Although Lapu-Lapu was tragic, it was still a beautiful day for so many people." Watkins says she was standing near the vendors, holding her son's hand, when out of nowhere she was hit from behind. "I didn't see this car, didn't hear this car, nothing," she said. "And I remember mentally processing what was happening to me that just all of a sudden I just got hit and my brain understood it as, 'This was a car that hit you.'" Watkins fell to the ground. Her whole body was in pain, and it hurt to breathe. She says she just told herself to keep her eyes open and keep breathing. Someone quickly put pressure on her head because she was bleeding. An arm's length away, people were trying to resuscitate a girl with no pulse. She panicked and reached out, worried it was her son. Just then, a friend came up and told her not to worry. She had Knox, and he was safe. Watkins was put in an ambulance and sent to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. She says she maintained consciousness through it all. Her injuries included a laceration due to blunt force trauma to her head, fractured vertebrae in her neck, fractured ribs, pelvis and knee. She also had a punctured lung, laceration to her spleen and kidney, and road rash from her ankles all the way up to her head. "I'm very aware of the fact that I'm still here and things could be a lot worse," she said. Watkins was in hospital for 10 days. She expected to be there for months. While she was there, she accepted a steady stream of visitors, which she credits for her recovery. Hopped up on painkillers, she recounted what happened hundreds of times. "I don't find it daunting," she said. "I just need people to know what happened because I'm here to tell it." Back at home, Watkins still very much struggles with the pain from her injuries. She says it doesn't take much to leave her exhausted. Her husband is on leave from his job to care for her. Despite what happened to her, Watkins says she has chosen not to let anger overcome her. Instead, she is focusing on having a second chance with her family and the present. And also, the outpouring of love and support from her community. A month later, she says, fundraisers are still happening. The support is still there. But Watkins isn't leaving negative emotions out entirely. Like Apeles, she is critical of B.C.'s mental health system. "He needs help, too," she said of the suspect, Kai-Ji Adam Lo.
Toronto Star
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Toronto to boost street festival security funding in the wake of Lapu-Lapu Day attack
The city of Toronto will inject an additional $750,000 in funding for festivals this summer to bolster security in the wake of the deadly Lapu-Lapu Day vehicle attack in Vancouver. The announcement followed a safety summit in Toronto on Monday morning, where 150 representatives from festivals across the city met with elected officials, including Mayor Olivia Chow.
Winnipeg Free Press
10-05-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Manitoba government matching donations to Filipino community in Vancouver after festival tragedy
The provincial government announced it will match donations up to $50,000 to a fundraiser providing counseling, trauma supports and other resources to victims after an attack at a Vancouver festival left 11 people dead and dozens injured. An SUV drove into a crowd of people at the Lapu-Lapu Day celebrating Filipino culture and history in Vancouver April 26. Vancouver's interim police chief called it the 'darkest day' in the city's history. Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, was arrested and faces eight charges of second-degree murder. The province will match donations to the United Way Kapwa Strong Fund, which can be reached at Donations can also be made at Red Cross of Canada at or the Jewish Federation of Winnipeg at 'These funds can help to support the grieving families and those affected by the tragedy as they continue to process and begin to heal,' said Sport, Culture, Heritage and Tourism Minister Nellie Kennedy. 'Manitoba values our Filipino community, some of whom care for our children, our elders and the sick. It's our turn to care for them as they begin to rebuild following this tragedy.' Donations will be matched in partnership with Jewish organizations in Winnipeg, which will launch a fundraising and awareness campaign.
Hamilton Spectator
08-05-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
Groups Warn Against Blaming Mental Illness for Lapu-Lapu Day Tragedy
Politicians and the public should be cautious about pinning the blame on mental illness as the reason behind the Lapu-Lapu Day attack, experts warn. This could further stigmatize people with mental illnesses and be used to increase policing and surveillance of already marginalized communities, they told The Tyee. Around 8 p.m. April 26, East Vancouver resident Kai-Ji Adam Lo allegedly drove an SUV through a crowd at a festival honouring a Filipino hero, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. He was arrested at the scene. A day later, interim Vancouver police chief Steve Rai said Lo had a 'significant history of interactions with police and health-care processionals related to mental health.' Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim called on the federal government to implement bail reform to keep people who are a danger to themselves or others locked up. On Wednesday Premier David Eby said the province would review the Mental Health Act after learning Lo was being treated under the act. Sim has also said a recurring pattern of people in mental health crisis becoming violent highlights a 'failure in the mental health system.' The Mental Health Act outlines how voluntary and involuntary mental health care is to be provided to British Columbians. According to reporting by the Globe and Mail, Lo was an involuntary outpatient in the care of a community mental health team at the time of the attack. He had been deemed at high risk of a decline in his mental health and his care team noted his unwillingness to take his medications for schizophrenia. People on extended leave under the Mental Health Act are assessed and approved for supervised, mandatory care in their community, which often allows them to live at home or work their regular job while receiving care. In a statement, Vancouver Coastal Health said Lo's care team didn't see any flags that would have suggested he was violent. Jonny Morris, CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association's B.C. division, said that reaching for solutions to tragedies is a natural response to trauma and can be based on public safety concerns. But the public and politicians should avoid drawing conclusions as the investigation is just getting started, he told The Tyee. Blaming mental illness might oversimplify the situation and miss an opportunity to look at the bigger picture, Morris said. It could also further stigmatize mental illness and make people less likely to seek mental health care, he added. That's important because the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto reports that in any given year, one in five Canadians experiences mental illness, and by the time they reach 40, one in two has had a mental illness, he said. The quick response also allows politicians to take the easy out and propose an increase in law and order as a solution, said Ethel Tungohan, a Canada Research Chair in Canadian migration policy, impacts and activism and an associate professor of politics at York University. 'As a racialized migrant group, Filipino communities get surveilled all the time,' she said. In Toronto, 'we're hitting the 21st anniversary of the death at the hands of police of Jeffrey Reodica, the Filipino high school student. So that's not the solution we want.' Reodica was shot in the back three times while two police officers handcuffed him. The police had been called in to break up a fight. Proposing 'law and order' solutions ignores the larger history of discrimination, surveillance and targeting of the Filipino community, dismisses the incident as a one-off and allows for increased surveillance of an already over-surveilled community, she said. 'We're not talking about surveilling and policing mainstream Canadian communities,' she said. 'When people and politicians talk about that, they're thinking specifically of racialized groups who they think don't belong in Canada and are a danger to Canada.' Earlier last week BAYAN Canada, an alliance of anti-imperialist groups organizing for democracy in the Philippines, and Migrante Canada, an alliance of Filipino migrant and immigrant organizations in Canada, also condemned the blaming of mental illness for the attacks. In a press release, BAYAN Canada pushed back against the use of mental health to 'justify more state-sponsored harassment of marginalized communities and to distract from the growing racism and anti-migrant sentiment in Canada.' Instead they called on politicians to look at solutions to issues like poverty, isolation, state violence and cultural extermination faced by migrant and immigrant communities in Canada, which can contribute to mental illness. Migrante Canada similarly condemned the 'downplaying' of the attack by considering it an isolated mental health incident. 'Mental health issues are not just personal struggles but products of a society marked by exploitation, alienation and discrimination. Mental health must not be used as an excuse to erase or distract the course of justice and accountability,' Migrante Canada said in a press release. If politicians want to focus on mental health they could look at how this attack has impacted immigrant, migrant and Filipino communities' mental health, Tungohan said. 'We should think about structural supports that are needed by communities and to make sure these supports include robust protection for people facing mental health crisis and the underlying factors causing mental health distress,' she added. The Canadian Mental Health Association's Morris said the best way to respond to the attack is to let ourselves grieve and feel angry, while being cautious of jumping to conclusions or trying to push solutions that will make us feel better in the moment. 'We're in a critical moment to prioritize the care, support and resources that are required to really deal with the aftermath, the grief, loss, pain,' he said. 'That's going to be really underscored by needing to listen to and provide support and being really present in and around this.' As the investigation unfolds, people should try to remain open-minded and work to avoid drawing 'simplistic and potentially very flawed conclusions,' Morris said. This will help everyone to be able to take a really deep look at what needs to change, he said.
