Latest news with #Lapu-LapuDayBlockParty
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Yahoo
How bayanihan is grounding Filipino Canadians in 'ethics of care' after Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy
"It was meant to be a day filled with music, dancing, food, laughter." Rev. Expedito Farinas choked up as he addressed mourners on Sunday at Vancouver's St. Mary the Virgin South Hill, an Anglican church with a largely Filipino congregation just a 15-minute walk away from where tragedy had occurred the night before. The Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party began as a day of "great celebration honouring our heritage, our culture, our tradition," Farinas told CBC Radio's On The Coast. Hundreds of people sang along to artists like Black Eyed Peas' Filipino vendors and food trucks lined the streets to serve the tens of thousands of people who visited throughout the day. WATCH | 'It turned out to be a traumatizing day': But in moments, the scenes of joy turned to devastation as an SUV drove into the crowd Saturday evening, killing 11 and injuring dozens more. Chaos ensued. Eyewitness videos show bodies lying limp on the pavement, held by distraught community members waiting for paramedics to arrive. "There are so many," one man says in Tagalog amid the cries for help, before pointing the camera to the end of the street. "It goes all the way until there." The accused attacker, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was arrested and charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, with more charges likely to come. Dubbed the "darkest day" in Vancouver's history by interim police chief Steve Rai, the Filipino community has been gathering to mourn with the nation at large. This past week, dozens of vigils, memorials and spaces to grieve have been organized, with at least 23 in the Vancouver area alone and 10moreacrossthecountry. That support shows how the Filipino community has been unified by a spirit of bayanihan. The term comes from the Tagalog word bayan, which refers to one's town as well as the Filipino motherland and people as a whole, and reflects communal unity and the practice of providing help without expecting reward that is inherent to Filipino culture. It signifies how the "community is grounded in ethics of care," says York University politics professor Ethel Tungohan, whose work focuses on Filipino migration and activism. "This is testament to the community's ability to care for each other and to recognize the importance of showing up and holding space for each other." Bayanihan has been a "lifeline" for the grieving Filipino community, says Leny Rose Simbre, secretary of the board for Kababayan Multicultural Centre in Toronto. "In the past few days I've seen how the spirit has taken shape," said Simbre, who is also chair of Migrante Ontario, which co-organized an emergency vigil on Sunday night. For many, that has meant holding each other close as victims' families reel from the senseless violence, and comforting the survivors who witnessed the evening's horrors. Kris Pangilinan, a Filipino-Canadian journalist and founder of one of the festival vendors, Kalamansi Collective, remembers speaking with a mother just before the incident took place. "She came to my booth immediately after the concert," Pangilinan tearfully recounted at a Toronto vigil on Tuesday. "If I only talked to her for a bit longer, she wouldn't have been hit." That woman was 43-year-old Christi-Ann Watkins, who was struck while in line for a food truck. She sustained a range of injuries, including a punctured lung, and remains in hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, four of the surviving victims remained in critical condition and two in serious condition, according to the Vancouver Police Department. By Friday afternoon, donors had given more than $2.3 million across 20 GoFundMe campaigns to support victims and their families. Beyond financial support, Vancouver chef T.J. Conwi also created a food hub for families of the victims and anyone else in need of meals. Mourners have also gone beyond leaving flowers and lighting candles, with many opting to eat and sing together. In Toronto, one vigil ended with music, including a song called Bayan Ko, meaning "my homeland," which is often considered the unofficial second Filipino national anthem. Partaking in food and song together is an "act of care and collective resistance," said Simbre. Prime Minister Mark Carney used the term in his expression of condolences to the Filipino Canadian community, where he highlighted its "strength and resilience." "[Bayanihan] captures the Filipino spirit of community, of co-operation and unity to achieve a common goal," said Carney at a press conference the day after the attack. "It's this spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time." While she appreciates the expressions of solidarity, Tungohan worries the Filipino community won't receive the support it needs from governments because of its perceived resilience. "Sometimes the term 'resilience' is used to appease people," she said. "Why are we jumping into resilience mode when we need time and space to grieve?"Tungohan further states the sense of loss is amplified by the fact that the attack happened in a space that should have been a site of "refuge, subversion, resistance and joy" for a diaspora that can feel isolated from the cultural practices of their motherland. Last Saturday's festival commemorated the anniversary of the Battle of Mactan, where in 1521 Indigenous Philippine chieftain Lapu-Lapu defeated explorer Ferdinand Magellan, setting back the advance of Spanish colonization. "That's why the attack was so horrendous for many of us, because it wasn't just an attack on a party," she said. "It was an attack against this moment of coming together and celebrating … in spite of all of the difficulties and challenges that the Filipino community as a whole has faced." Speaking at a vigil outside Toronto City Hall on Tuesday, spoken word artist Patrick de Belen expressed a similar sentiment. "Filipino resilience is ultimately a beautiful thing, but not if it prevents us from feeling heartbroken or weak, vulnerable, sad, angry," he said. In a poem titled the garden on fraser and 41st read by a community member at the same event, Vancouver-based teacher and poet Sol Diana likewise writes, "Bitter taste on my tongue when I call my own people 'resilient.' I prefer to call us by something else: kapwa; 'a shared self' ... when one falls, we all fall. Conversely, we rise together." Cordelia Mejin, a clinical counsellor and grief therapist, says the expression of "love through practical ways, not just through emotions" is shared across many Asian cultures. "When you have people coming alongside it almost feels like people are carrying that way together with you," said Mejin, who has offered free therapy to the Filipino community and survivors of the festival. "It doesn't erase the grief, but it actually makes it more bearable." Eliezer Moreno, a B.C.-based grief counsellor, says resilience is about honouring what happened and finding agency through it, not burying or forgetting about the grief. "We don't want to feel helpless. We want to feel like we have power and can choose, make choices, turn what we are feeling into something, knowing that we have strength and that we are going to be stronger together in this," said Moreno, who is Filipino. Moreno says when other counsellors asked him to add his name to a list of professionals helping those impacted, he agreed right away. "My mind just went to, 'This is my community. I need to help,'" he said, describing it as a way to channel his own difficult feelings into helping others. Clinical psychologist Dr. Kenneth Miller says a healthy recovery process means embracing, not ignoring, the grief. "Resilient doesn't mean that you don't have any pain; resilient means that you recover from your pain, that you bounce back and don't go on to develop long-term problems," said Miller, a counselling professor at the University of British Columbia. Moreover, social supports that "make people feel seen and supported and heard," Miller adds, can help prevent long-term impacts, such as acute stress disorders, which he says are typically developed by 20 to 30 per cent of survivors of a mass killing. "The initial period, the first few weeks following this kind of event — that's when community-level interventions become so, so, so important," said Miller. "They are actually more important for most people than any kind of mental health professional intervention or professional mental health care." WATCH | Community interventions integral: That community care and support may be especially important for Filipinos, who are bound by a strong sense of shared culture that embraces both joy and anguish as a collective. "It's the nature of the Filipino community to love one another," said Mejin. "When you love, then there's the grief that comes when you've lost, as well." For his part, Moreno is hopeful that the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival and the Filipino community will endure in a way that will "celebrate our own culture and our resilience and our strength." "It will be a mark that's kind of left on that festival. But … they are going to use that mark that was left and continue to honour those that we've lost and to show the resilience that's part of the community."
CBC
03-05-2025
- CBC
How bayanihan is grounding Filipino Canadians in 'ethics of care' after Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy
Social Sharing "It was meant to be a day filled with music, dancing, food, laughter." Rev. Expedito Farinas choked up as he addressed mourners on Sunday at St. Mary the Virgin South Hill, an Anglican church with a largely Filipino congregation just a 15-minute walk away from where tragedy had occurred the night before. The Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party began as a day of "great celebration honouring our heritage, our culture, our tradition," Farinas told CBC Radio's On The Coast. Hundreds of people sang along to artists like Black Eyed Peas' Filipino vendors and food trucks lined the streets to serve the tens of thousands of people who visited throughout the day. WATCH | 'It turned out to be a traumatizing day': A celebration of culture ended in trauma, says Anglican pastor 5 hours ago Duration 0:49 But in moments, the scenes of joy turned to devastation as an SUV drove into the crowd Saturday evening, killing 11 and injuring dozens more. Chaos ensued. Eyewitness videos show bodies lying limp on the pavement, held by distraught community members waiting for paramedics to arrive. "There are so many," one man says in Tagalog amid the cries for help, before pointing the camera to the end of the street. "It goes all the way until there." The accused attacker, 30-year-old Kai-Ji Adam Lo, was arrested and charged with eight counts of second-degree murder, with more charges likely to come. Dubbed the "darkest day" in Vancouver's history by interim police chief Steve Rai, the Filipino community has been gathering to mourn with the nation at large. This past week, dozens of vigils, memorials and spaces to grieve have been organized, with at least 23 in the Vancouver area alone and 10 more across the country. That support shows how the Filipino community has been unified by a spirit of bayanihan. The term comes from the Tagalog word bayan, which refers to one's town as well as the Filipino motherland and people as a whole, and reflects communal unity and the practice of providing help without expecting reward that is inherent to Filipino culture. It signifies how the "community is grounded in ethics of care," says York University politics professor Ethel Tungohan, whose work focuses on Filipino migration and activism. "This is testament to the community's ability to care for each other and to recognize the importance of showing up and holding space for each other." A community 'lifeline' Bayanihan has been a "lifeline" for the grieving Filipino community, says Leny Rose Simbre, secretary of the board for Kababayan Multicultural Centre in Toronto. "In the past few days I've seen how the spirit has taken shape," said Simbre, who is also chair of Migrante Ontario, which co-organized an emergency vigil on Sunday night. For many, that has meant holding each other close as victims' families reel from the senseless violence, and comforting the survivors who witnessed the evening's horrors. Kris Pangilinan, a Filipino-Canadian journalist and founder of one of the festival vendors, Kalamansi Collective, remembers speaking with a mother just before the incident took place. "She came to my booth immediately after the concert," Pangilinan tearfully recounted at a Toronto vigil on Tuesday. "If I only talked to her for a bit longer, she wouldn't have been hit." That woman was 43-year-old Christi-Ann Watkins, who was struck while in line for a food truck. She sustained a range of injuries, including a punctured lung, and remains in hospital. As of Thursday afternoon, four of the surviving victims remained in critical condition and two in serious condition, according to the Vancouver Police Department. By Friday afternoon, donors had given more than $2.3 million across 20 GoFundMe campaigns to support victims and their families. Beyond financial support, Vancouver chef T.J. Conwi also created a food hub for families of the victims and anyone else in need of meals. Mourners have also gone beyond leaving flowers and lighting candles, with many opting to eat and sing together. In Toronto, one vigil ended with music, including a song called Bayan Ko, meaning "my homeland," which is often considered the unofficial second Filipino national anthem. Partaking in food and song together is an "act of care and collective resistance," said Simbre. Prime Minister Mark Carney used the term in his expression of condolences to the Filipino Canadian community, where he highlighted its "strength and resilience." "[ Bayanihan ] captures the Filipino spirit of community, of co-operation and unity to achieve a common goal," said Carney at a press conference the day after the attack. "It's this spirit upon which we must draw in this incredibly difficult time." 'When one falls, we all fall' While she appreciates the expressions of solidarity, Tungohan worries the Filipino community won't receive the support it needs from governments because of its perceived resilience. "Sometimes the term 'resilience' is used to appease people," she said. "Why are we jumping into resilience mode when we need time and space to grieve?" WATCH | Memorials let us 'witness each other's grief': Religious rituals can restore 'safety and comfort' after man-made disasters, says psychologist 5 hours ago Duration 1:13 Dr. Kenneth Miller, a clinical psychologist and counselling professor at the University of British Columbia, says community and religious interventions that reduce isolation can normalize feelings of grief and help restore a sense safety and comfort following a disaster. Tungohan further states the sense of loss is amplified by the fact that the attack happened in a space that should have been a site of "refuge, subversion, resistance and joy" for a diaspora that can feel isolated from the cultural practices of their motherland. Last Saturday's festival commemorated the anniversary of the Battle of Mactan, where in 1521 Indigenous Philippine chieftain Lapu-Lapu defeated explorer Ferdinand Magellan, setting back the advance of Spanish colonization. "That's why the attack was so horrendous for many of us, because it wasn't just an attack on a party," she said. "It was an attack against this moment of coming together and celebrating … in spite of all of the difficulties and challenges that the Filipino community as a whole has faced." Speaking at a vigil outside Toronto City Hall on Tuesday, spoken word artist Patrick de Belen expressed a similar sentiment. "Filipino resilience is ultimately a beautiful thing, but not if it prevents us from feeling heartbroken or weak, vulnerable, sad, angry," he said. In a poem titled the garden on fraser and 41st read by a community member at the same event, Vancouver-based teacher and poet Sol Diana likewise writes, "Bitter taste on my tongue when I call my own people 'resilient.' I prefer to call us by something else: kapwa; 'a shared self' ... when one falls, we all fall. Conversely, we rise together." Community makes grief 'more bearable': mental health experts Cordelia Mejin, a clinical counsellor and grief therapist, says the expression of "love through practical ways, not just through emotions" is shared across many Asian cultures. "When you have people coming alongside it almost feels like people are carrying that way together with you," said Mejin, who has offered free therapy to the Filipino community and survivors of the festival. "It doesn't erase the grief, but it actually makes it more bearable." Eliezer Moreno, a B.C.-based grief counsellor, says resilience is about honouring what happened and finding agency through it, not burying or forgetting about the grief. "We don't want to feel helpless. We want to feel like we have power and can choose, make choices, turn what we are feeling into something, knowing that we have strength and that we are going to be stronger together in this," said Moreno, who is Filipino. Moreno says when other counsellors asked him to add his name to a list of professionals helping those impacted, he agreed right away. "My mind just went to, 'This is my community. I need to help,'" he said, describing it as a way to channel his own difficult feelings into helping others. Clinical psychologist Dr. Kenneth Miller says a healthy recovery process means embracing, not ignoring, the grief. "Resilient doesn't mean that you don't have any pain; resilient means that you recover from your pain, that you bounce back and don't go on to develop long-term problems," said Miller, a counselling professor at the University of British Columbia. Moreover, social supports that "make people feel seen and supported and heard," Miller adds, can help prevent long-term impacts, such as acute stress disorders, which he says are typically developed by 20 to 30 per cent of survivors of a mass killing. "The initial period, the first few weeks following this kind of event — that's when community-level interventions become so, so, so important," said Miller. "They are actually more important for most people than any kind of mental health professional intervention or professional mental health care." WATCH | Community interventions integral: Why we gravitate to vigils in times of loss 5 hours ago Duration 0:54 That community care and support may be especially important for Filipinos, who are bound by a strong sense of shared culture that embraces both joy and anguish as a collective. "It's the nature of the Filipino community to love one another," said Mejin. "When you love, then there's the grief that comes when you've lost, as well." For his part, Moreno is hopeful that the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival and the Filipino community will endure in a way that will "celebrate our own culture and our resilience and our strength." "It will be a mark that's kind of left on that festival. But … they are going to use that mark that was left and continue to honour those that we've lost and to show the resilience that's part of the community."
CBC
30-04-2025
- CBC
B.C. premier announces review of mental health legislation in wake of Vancouver festival tragedy
In the wake of the Vancouver festival tragedy that left 11 dead, several injured, and people around the world grieving, B.C.'s premier said there will be a review of the province's mental health legislation to ensure it's working the way it's intended. The premier has also announced that Friday, May 2, will be a provincial day of mourning for the victims and their families. On Saturday night, a 30-year-old man drove an SUV into a crowd of people at a street festival, just as organizers were winding down activities. The festival, called the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party, was being held to celebrate the contributions of the Filipino Canadian community. The man has since been identified as Kai-Ji Adam Lo. He has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder. Following the incident, interim police Chief Steve Rai said Lo had a history of interactions with police and health-care professionals related to mental health. "This incident is bringing to light additional concerns and urgency that they have around reform of the Mental Health Act in this province," Eby said Wednesday afternoon. The Mental Health Act deals with legal issues around voluntary and involuntary treatment for people who have a mental illness. Eby said Health Minister Josie Osborne and her team will initiate a review of the act. Dr. Daniel Vigo, B.C.'s chief scientific adviser for psychiatry, toxic drugs and concurrent disorders, will be part of the review, Eby said. He did not provide a timeline for the review. Calls for action, public inquiry The announcement comes as B.C. leaders call for action from the provincial government to protect the public from future harm. In the hours and days following the incident, Rai repeatedly fielded questions from reporters asking whether there was enough security and police support for the event. Unlike other events in the city, police did not block the road with vehicle barricades. Rai has been adamant that a risk assessment was done and determined that dedicated officers and heavy police vehicles were not needed. Police are investigating the tragedy, and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the city and police department are doing a "comprehensive internal review" of things like permitting, site safety, planning and emergency response. Sim said he expects preliminary information to be available in the coming weeks. On Tuesday, Eby said that should the criminal investigation into the event not provide "all the answers," the province will call a public inquiry. "I know that British Columbians want answers, I want answers," he told reporters. He said he would call one now, but worries it would interfere with criminal proceedings. Sim said he's "sick and tired" of " administrivia" and wants any public inquiry to include a review of mental health supports in the province. "Sure, let's do these inquiries," he said. "How many more inquiries do we need? How many more reviews do we need? We see a recurring pattern of mental health people suffering from significant mental health challenges that lead to significant negative incidents." WATCH | Vancouver mayor calls for provincial action: Vancouver mayor says city review underway, calls on province for mental health resources 4 hours ago Duration 11:56 Sim said he wants to see more treatment beds made available and more "meaningful" bail reform. "Mental health is health care, and health care is a provincial responsibility. Vancouver is stepping up, but we can't and we should not be doing this alone." 'Sister legislation' Lo was under the care of a mental health team and "on extended leave" in accordance with the Mental Health Act, according to the local health authority, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). VCH said people are put on extended leave under the act to give them a chance to integrate back into the community. Anytime someone is on extended leave, a mental health team monitors their well-being and provides support as needed. If they refuse treatment or support, they can be recalled to the hospital. "In this situation, the care team followed established guidelines for a client on extended leave, and there was no indication this person was not following their treatment plan or presented a public safety risk," VCH said in an email to CBC News. Public safety critic and Surrey South Conservative MLA Elenore Sturko said the Mental Health Act is an "effective piece of legislation" for those who meet the criteria. But, she said, sometimes people fall through the cracks or their situation changes, and they still don't get the care they need under the act. She said she wants to see some sort of "sister legislation" to cover the people who don't quite qualify under the current act. Without changes, she said, more people will get hurt. "This is horrific, but it is not the first horrific incident that we've had involving a connection to mental illness," she told Stephen Quinn, the host of CBC's The Early Edition, on Wednesday morning. In 2023, three people were stabbed at a festival in Chinatown by a man who was on a day pass from the B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Hospital. Last September, a man killed one person and cut another's hand off in a pair of attacks in downtown Vancouver. Police said the suspect, who was on probation at the time of the attacks, had more than 60 documented contacts with police and that he "appears to be a very troubled man." In December, a suspect was shot and killed by police at a Vancouver convenience store after he allegedly stole liquor and attacked and injured two people. While the suspect's identity was never released, the premier suggested mental health, addiction and brain injury played a role in the man's mental state at the time of the incident. "There is some work here to do," Sturko said. "It is clear that even with extensive services being reported, there are still failures that are leading to people either falling victim themselves or being involved in serious criminal interactions that leave them in jeopardy." Additionally, she said she wants to see a full review of the entire mental health-care system in B.C. Eby said that, without question, the mental health-care system needs more resources. Support is available for those impacted by the Vancouver festival tragedy. Victim Services is available 24 hours a day by calling or texting 1-800-563-0808 or by email at 211-victimlinkbc@
Filipino Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Filipino Times
DMW offers support to victims of Vancouver block party tragedy
The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) has expressed deep sorrow and condolences following the tragic incident at the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on April 26, 2025. In a statement, the DMW called for prayers for healing, safety, and justice for those affected by what it described as an 'unspeakable tragedy,' while awaiting more details about the incident. The department, under the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., assured that it is prepared to provide all necessary assistance to the victims. It reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and welfare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). The DMW said its Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Vancouver is closely coordinating with the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Philippine Consulate General, and Canadian authorities to monitor the situation and ensure the well-being of the victims and their families. For immediate assistance, the DMW shared the following hotlines: Assistance-to-Nationals Hotline: +1 604 653 5858 Migrant Workers' Office Hotline: +1 604 767 3354 Vancouver Police Department Victim Support: +1 800 563 0808 For families of OFWs in Vancouver and Western Canada: DMW-OWWA Hotline 1348 'Our thoughts and prayers are with our Filipino community in Vancouver,' the DMW said, adding that it stands in solidarity with both Filipinos and Canadians during this time of grief.
CBC
29-04-2025
- CBC
Vancouver's Filipino community mourns after Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy
Social Sharing A large crowd gathered Sunday evening at Kensington Community Centre in Vancouver to mourn the 11 people killed and dozens more injured after a driver of a black SUV drove into a Filipino street festival in the city's Sunset neighbourhood on Saturday. The vigil came as police identified the man charged in connection with what interim police chief Steve Rai called "the darkest day in the city's history." Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder in relation to the crash, according to Vancouver Police Department. Many at Sunday's ceremony lit candles and placed flowers to honour the victims of the tragedy at Saturday's Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party. WATCH | Rai calls it 'darkest day in city's history': Vancouver car-ramming 'darkest day in our city's history,' says interim police chief 2 days ago Duration 3:29 Vancouver police say the number of dead from a car-ramming on Saturday night is now 11, with dozens of others injured. A 30-year-old man has been arrested in relation to the incident at the Lapu Lapu Day street festival. Interim police Chief Steve Rai said it was 'the darkest day in our city's history.' "When something senseless like this happens, there's a yearning to be with the community and do what we can," said Celine Bacani, owner of Lee's Donuts shop on Granville Island. "Our focus right now is on the victims. There are a lot of unanswered questions and confusion, but it's more important to come together to support victims and their families." The chair of Filipino BC, the group that organized the event, told those gathered that the loss is still difficult to comprehend. "I haven't slept and I know many others haven't," RJ Aquino said. "We had a good time yesterday, it was a great event. A lot of us are still numb, angry, confused and devastated. Some of us don't even know what to feel." Aquino said the organization has been working around the clock to ensure volunteers and participants have been accounted for. Salia Joseph, member of the Squamish Nation, offered words of support to the Filipino community. "Our home is your home, our grief is your grief," Joseph said. "When somebody suffers in our territories, we all suffer. We want to wrap a blanket of prayer around your people at this time." A temporary memorial has taken shape at the park near Kensington Community Centre, where attendees placed flowers, cards, and handwritten notes. Organizers say those tributes will eventually be moved to a memorial closer to the site of Saturday's tragic incident. Warning over scam fundraisers In a post on Facebook on Sunday afternoon, the Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver warned the public about fraudulent fundraising campaigns that have emerged online in the wake of the tragedy. The consulate said it has not created or authorized any fundraising efforts related to the Lapu-Lapu Day incident, despite some GoFundMe pages using the consulate's official message as part of their promotions. "The public is advised to exercise vigilance and prudence to avoid being victimized by unscrupulous and malicious actors attempting to exploit this tragedy," the post read. Organizers say they are focused on supporting the victims, survivors and their families, and that updates about verified support efforts will be shared later. Statistics Canada says more than 174,000 people of Filipino descent represent 3.5 per cent of the province's total population, and they're the third-largest cultural group in B.C. behind those of South Asian and Chinese ancestry.
