Filipino BC calls for more support responding to ‘social disaster’ of festival attack

City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Police Department are calling for new event safety legislation in light of the Lapu Lapu Day festival tragedy.

VANCOUVER — The organizer of the Vancouver street festival where 11 people were killed in a vehicle-ramming attack last spring says the tragedy continues to reverberate through the community, and it needs more support to help those affected.

A statement from Filipino BC says the second annual Lapu Lapu Day festival began as a day of cultural pride and ended in “unimaginable loss.”

While the tragedy of April 26 has been acknowledged, it says “the delivery of tangible support and resources has been slow and inconsistent.”

The group calls the attack a “social disaster” and says it did not trigger the standard emergency response mechanisms that follow environment-related disasters.

Still, it says the impacts have followed a disaster-like trajectory, with trauma, long-term care needs and ripple effects throughout the community.

The statement comes after police and Vancouver’s mayor released the final report of a review of public safety at outdoor events prompted by the attack.

Filipino BC says it is grateful for the review, which found their festival followed all required safety processes.

The report makes eight recommendations to strengthen public safety, and the group says it looks forward to their swift implementation.

It says families affected by the attack are grieving and mourning, while some survivors remain in hospital or rehabilitation.

It says much of the response to the tragedy has been carried out by community groups and sustained through the Kapwa Strong Fund, a partnership with the United Way, as well as community and corporate donors.

“Communities stepped in out of necessity; co-ordinating emergency and recovery programs, connected people to trauma-informed, culturally sensitive care, and addressed gaps in the system through the facilitating of longer-term resources and social services,” the statement says.

“While this support has been critical, it is not sustainable.”

The statement issued Friday calls on all levels of government to step up their responses to the attack, adding it took place in a neighbourhood Filipino BC describes as “chronically underfunded and predominantly racialized.”

Mayor Ken Sim told a news conference on Thursday that the attack marked the “darkest day in the history of Vancouver.”

He said no city could completely eliminate all risks to public safety and it wasn’t feasible to protect every event among thousands held each year.

Rather, Sim said he was “begging” the provincial government to step up its supports for people experiencing mental health challenges, which the mayor described as the “root cause” of many public safety concerns in the city.

This report by Brenna Owen of The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 5, 2025.