Vehicle attack in Vancouver devastates a vibrant and growing Filipino community WSOC TV [Video]

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — (AP) — For Bennet Miemban-Ganata, owner of a popular Filipino restaurant in Vancouver, the arrival of spring means a season of fiestas, bringing both good business and celebrations of culture.

From Filipino Restaurant Month in April to Filipino Heritage Month in June, there would be colorful clothes, folk dances and traditional food like crispy lumpia, marinated and grilled pork belly, and beef stew. And of course, there would be togetherness for Vancouver’s rapidly growing Filipino community.

All that made Saturday night’s vehicle-ramming attack on a large crowd at a Filipino block party all the more devastating.

“We felt … the whole day that it’s a fun celebration, that people are happy being together,” Miemban-Ganata said as she fought back tears Monday during an interview at her restaurant, Plato Filipino. “We were just there to have fun, to know that we have each other in a foreign land.”

A black Audi SUV barreled down …