Saskatchewan's Filipino community heartbroken after deadly Vancouver festival tragedy

Jeffery Tram · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 27, 2025 5:54 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Members of Saskatchewan's Filipino assemblage are expressing shock, sadness and solidarity pursuing an incidental astatine the Lapu Lapu Day Block Party successful Vancouver connected Saturday that near 11 people dormant and respective others injured.

Jenelyn Santos Ong, co-president of the Filipino Canadian Association of Saskatchewan (FILCAS), said the quality was devastating to hear.

"It's decidedly 1 of daze and sadness, thing unimaginable and unexpected, particularly astatine an lawsuit that's expected to beryllium celebrating our civilization and heritage," Ong said.

The incidental happened Saturday day during a thoroughfare enactment commemorating Lapu Lapu, a revered Filipino leader known for resisting Spanish colonization successful the 1500s. 

According to police, a conveyance drove into the festival crowd. The driver, a 30-year-old Vancouver man, is successful custody.

Ong said galore Filipinos successful Saskatchewan person household and friends surviving successful Vancouver. She noted that though her loved ones had already near the festival tract earlier the calamity occurred, not everyone has been accounted for.

"A batch of america cognize household and friends that are surviving there," she said. "Even if they're not straight impacted, conscionable knowing that they were there, and witnessing it oregon being adjacent by, it inactive affects them."

Ong says FILCAS has already contacted Filipino organizations successful British Columbia to connection support, and volition proceed coordinating efforts to assistance the affected families. She encouraged radical to absorption connected assemblage healing alternatively than sharing graphic images oregon videos circulating online.

"We truly privation to absorption connected the radical and bash what we tin to enactment them," Ong said.

Alvin Pulga, nationalist relations serviceman for the Philippine Association of Saskatchewan in Regina, said helium archetypal learned of the calamity from a household radical chat. Like many, helium woke up to the devastating quality connected Sunday morning.

"As a Filipino-Canadian, it hits person to home," Pulga said. "Our assemblage present successful Regina is heartbroken and saddened."

Pulga said the calamity sparked hard conversations wrong his ain family, peculiarly with younger relatives present fearful astir attending taste festivals.

"I was talking astir it with my niece and my lad earlier contiguous and it's hard to explain, you know, the world that things similar this tin happen," helium said. "You effort to comfortableness them conscionable knowing that it'll beryllium OK."

He emphasized the value of reassuring young radical that celebrating civilization should stay a root of pridefulness and joy, contempt the risks.

"Events similar this are expected to beryllium joyous," helium said. "We privation our kids to cognize they should inactive beryllium excited to observe our culture."

Strength in community

Pulga and the Philippine Association of Saskatchewan person been preparing for its Filipino pavilion astatine Mosaic festival — an yearly multicultural lawsuit scheduled for the archetypal play of June.

He said that portion information had not been a absorption successful past meetings, that volition apt change.

"I'm definite astatine our adjacent gathering something's gonna beryllium brought up with this thought successful caput of security," helium said. 

Both Ong and Pulga emphasized that portion the calamity has formed a shadiness implicit celebrations, it has besides revealed the spot and unity of the Filipino community.

"One happening astir Filipinos is that we truly bash travel unneurotic erstwhile there's calamity oregon crisis," Ong said. "The assemblage is inactive feeling that sadness, but besides the gratitude for having a assemblage that comes together."