Vancouver’s acting police chief said that Saturday was the city’s darkest day. It was also the darkest for Canada’s dynamic and growing Filipino community.
The vehicle attack that killed 11 people at a street festival Saturday night left its roughly one million members reeling.
“We will feel this for a long time,” said RJ Aquino, chair of Filipino B.C. His voice broke as he described how panicked messages and calls poured into his phone after the attack on the festival, Lapu-Lapu Day.
Sitting next to him at a press conference, B.C. MLA Mable Elmore spoke of the “mad scramble” that followed. Before that, “it was a sunny day, it was a beautiful day for a celebration. Everyone was happy.”
She, too, was in tears as she described the aftermath for survivors and for the broader community. “We are in incredible pain,” she said.
But she also spoke of the community’s resilience. So did …