The Lapu-Lapu Festival in Vancouver on Saturday was meant to be a celebration of Filipino heritage, but a car-ramming attack that killed at least 11 and left dozens injured has left the community reeling from tragedy.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as well as his election rival conservative leader Pierre Poilievre extended their sympathies, as did Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after the attack.
The suspect was arrested and faces murder charges. Police say his motive remains unclear.
David Eby, the premier of British Columbia, a province home to some 174,000 people of Philippine descent, described the local Filipino community as one “that does nothing but give, has nothing but love,” adding: “The grief right now and the solidarity with the Filipino community is not just Vancouver, it’s not just British Columbia, it’s national, and it’s even international.”
“We are in incredible pain,” provincial lawmaker Mable Elmore said at a press conference on Sunday. “The Filipino community will show true resilience, and we will come together out of this catastrophe with the support and the love from the broad community, from all of you in the public across British Columbia and around the world.”
The Philippine Consulate General in Vancouver provided hotlines for those affected. But it also issued a warning to those who want to help against unverified fundraising campaigns that have emerged soliciting donations.
“It has come to the Philippine Consulate General’s attention that certain individuals have set up GoFundMe pages claiming to raise funds to support the victims of the Lapu-Lapu Day Incident, using a screencap of the Consulate’s official message as a backdrop as part of its material on the said fundraising page,” the consulate warned, declaring that it has not created or sanctioned any such effort. “The public is also advised to exercise vigilance and prudence to avoid being victimized by unscrupulous and malicious actors attempting to exploit this tragedy that has befallen the Filipino Community in British Columbia.”
Joel Castro, 44, who was at the festival and witnessed the attack, told TIME, “Just personally, I think I’m a bit traumatized. It’s not something that you could easily forget.” But he added that in the aftermath so far, “what I’m seeing right now is like a solidarity … solidarity from other politicians, other nations.”
Local community leaders on the ground tell TIME that the Vancouver Filipino community has rallied resources to support its members, asking those who wish to help from afar to exercise patience.
“There are sharks—I don’t know whether they’re Filipinos or not—who have used this tragedy, these people suffering, to scam people,” said Erie Maestro, 72, a founding member of local migrant worker organization Migrante BC.
“It’s only the first day after the incident. People are still trying to find out who got killed, who got injured,” Maestro told TIME late Sunday, as victims had not yet been publicly identified.
Maestro emphasized the importance of the “community rallying together” for both emotional and concrete support.
“There is more than enough” being done within the community, “from folks that are offering meal trains, social workers offering mental health support,” says Sammie Jo Rumbaua, 43, a board officer of local cultural organization Mabuhay House Society. “The focus is the victims and the families and how to give the help that people need right now.”
Mabuhay House compiled and shared a list of resources, including a site set up by local organizers to coordinate requests for and offers of support within the community in response to the attack.
“Please note there are no monetary requests on our forms, we just want to connect folks with each other,” the site says, though it promotes links to several GoFundMe fundraisers “directly going to the impacted families.”
Filipino BC, the organizer of the Lapu-Lapu Festival, also posted on its social media page contact details to crisis lines. “We are focused on supporting our community right now, in addition to experiencing this trauma,” the group said in its post. “We also want to make it clear that we discourage the viewing and sharing of the videos that are currently circulating of the tragedy.”
The post How the Filipino Community Is Rallying Support After Vancouver Attack—and How to Help appeared first on TIME.
