Vancouver city council unanimously backs Rogers Arena for Lapu Lapu benefit concert

Rogers Arena has been secured as the venue for a benefit concert following the Lapu Lapu Day attack.

An exact date has not been chosen, but Vancouver city councilors unanimously approved an urgent motion to secure Rogers Arena as the venue for the Lapu Lapu Festival benefit concert.

Canucks Sports and Entertainment, which owns the stadium, is offering the venue at no cost. Additionally, Ticketmaster and BrandLive have agreed to waive their fees.

“There will be some hard costs with respect to equipment, utilities, and technical staff, but the intention is to charge a very nominal ticket fee,” said Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung, as she presented the motion to council on behalf of Mayor Ken Sim.

Organizers are hopeful that some of the performers from the Lapu Lapu Festival, such as the Black Eyed Peas, will be able to participate.

The band’s current tour ends in July, which aligns with the city’s hopes to hold the benefit concert around the same time.

City officials stressed that they are proceeding cautiously, mindful of the impact of the tragedy, which saw 11 killed and several more injured when a driver plowed through the crowd at the April 26 event.

However, the term “memorial”– used in the title of the motion presented at city hall on Tuesday night – caused concern and confusion among some members of the Filipino community, who felt Rogers Arena might not be an appropriate venue for such an event.

Additionally, there were complaints that key groups had not been properly consulted in the planning process.

After council’s vote on Tuesday, Filipino BC – which organized the Lapu Lapu Day event where the tragedy occurred – published a statement on its website expressing some concerns.

No one from the organization was available for an interview Wednesday, but Filipino BC provided CTV News with an additional statement from its chair, RJ Aquino.

“This is not about any one organization, it’s about centring the victims and families,” Aquino said. “We were not consulted on the content and specifics of the motion, which was for a memorial event and not a benefit concert. We heard from the community, including victims and families, that while they are in support of a benefit concert, the motion for a memorial event felt inappropriate and ill-advised. They also told us an event in June feels too soon.”

“We understand that the city had not reached out to the victims and families before this motion,” he added.

“I would characterize it as a misunderstanding,” said Mable Elmore, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Kensington, confirming organizers spent Wednesday making it clear that this will be a benefit concert and not a memorial.

“We’ve had a series of meetings with different community groups and stakeholders. We received clear recommendations from the Vancouver Police Department and Victim Services that a memorial would not be appropriate at this stage,” said Elmore.

Despite the initial concerns, the benefit concert has gained strong support from the Filipino-Canadian community at large.

In a statement to CTV News, the United Filipino Canadian Association of British Columbia confirmed it is backing the event.

“We express our full and unwavering support for the City of Vancouver’s planned event in honour of the victims,” it read.

For the City of Vancouver, Tuesday’s urgent motion was a necessary step to ensure all administrative boxes were ticked.

“The last thing we want is for the City of Vancouver to stand in the way of an event that’s being put together with input from all the different community groups,” said Mayor Ken Sim.