At City Hall, Calgarians left bouquets of roses and daisies in yellow and white, candles and notes to those who had lost their lives in the devastating attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver. Read More
’When you hear tragic events like this, it makes you want to hold your loved ones closer … It really brings a sense of community stronger and bolder than ever’
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‘When you hear tragic events like this, it makes you want to hold your loved ones closer … It really brings a sense of community stronger and bolder than ever’
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At City Hall, Calgarians left bouquets of roses and daisies in yellow and white, candles and notes to those who had lost their lives in the devastating attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in Vancouver.
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It has only been three days since an SUV drove into the crowds at the festival on Sunday, killing 11 people — an attack that has shaken Filipino communities across Canada and left many grieving with no answers to turn to.
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“It’s definitely been a shock to myself and the community,” said Sherwin Antonio, media lead for Fiesta Filipino, an Albertan group for the Filipino community. “It’s the first of its kind to happen to the Filipino community within the nation.”
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Noon News Roundup
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At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, people gathered on the platform outside of City Hall for a prayer vigil to honor the victims of the attack and grieve together in solidarity.
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Volunteers set out tables with yellow sticky notes, pens and candles for anyone to take, light and leave a note in memory of the victims. The mood was somber but every now and then, someone in the crowd would smile, run over and hug someone — perhaps a friend, a relative, or a stranger.
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People huddled together in groups, some clutching hands as they listened to Michael Juarez, one of the board members for Fiesta Filipino, speak emotionally about culture, community and solidarity.
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“When you hear tragic events like this, it makes you want to hold your loved ones closer,” he said. “It really brings a sense of community stronger and bolder than ever.”
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It was not the only vigil held Wednesday, he added. Vigils across the country were occurring at the same time as in Calgary, a testament to how people “come together as Canadians.”
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Mayor Jyoti Gondek called the day of the attack a “heavy day.”
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“Today is a day when all of here are standing with the Filipino community across the country, sharing your grief, sharing your pain,” she said. “It all starts with love for each other and that’s what will get us through this.”
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Antonio said he was heartened to see not only other Filipinos at the vigil, but people of other cultures. “The turnout is amazing,” he said, smiling widely, adding how much it meant to see intercultural support in a time like this.
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But what made the attack that much more painful is how it contradicts what the Lapu Lapu Day festival was supposed to be about, said Emma Sarne, the consul general for the Philippine consulate of Alberta, in her own remarks.
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“Like so many Filipino fiestas, it was meant to be open for all,” she said. “Where everyone could feel the warmth of our welcome. It is in our nature as Filipinos to open our homes, our tables, our hearts to others . . . During fiestas, doors are thrown wide open and strangers become family. The festival was an expression of that spirit . . . an invitation for everyone to join in our story.”
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Tess Abanto, 59, has lived in Calgary for more than 25 years and called the attack a “devastating loss, not just felt here, but by Filipino communities all over the world.”
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“This tragedy has obviously struck a nerve,” she said. “It’s a senseless loss.”
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When Elizabeth Torio, 66, first heard of the news on social media, she immediately called up friends in Vancouver to check on them. “It’s shocking. It’s nonsense,” she said.
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Her son had encouraged her to come for the vigil, for which she was thankful. “Coming here and hearing what people had to say, it’s impactful,” she said.
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She visits Vancouver fairly frequently, she said, and the news of the attack hasn’t affected any plans to visit in the future.
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However, for 19-year-old Simon Bandoc, the news hit much closer to home when he found out two of his friends were near-victims of the attack, having left the festival just 10 minutes before the car drove into the crowds.
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“I was scared for them, shocked for them,” he said. “I felt chills all over.
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“It scares me because what if this happens to Fiesta Filipino?” he said, referring to the annual summer Filipino festival in Calgary.
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In her own speech, Gondek assured listeners that the city is in talks to consider every angle of security to ensure festivalgoers feel safe and protected.
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But if there’s any silver lining to a tragedy like this, it’s seeing the support from all over the city, not just within the Filipino community.
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“To see people from so many different sides of conflict, to come together in community to share moments where we can share love and comfort to each other, it’s really touching for me,” Bandoc said.
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