The tragic outcome of a Lapu Lapu festival on Canada’s west coast reverberated back home in Calgary, with the tight-knit local Filipino community reflecting on the weekend’s events.

Lapu Lapu festival celebrations in downtown Vancouver were cut short on Saturday when a car drove into the event’s crowd, killing 11.  

Vangie Caoile, the founder and executive director of Fiesta Filipino, a Calgary-based Filipino celebration held in September, said her community is mourning nationwide. 

“It’s hard to process. I think at a certain level, we can still be in denial, in disbelief, anger comes into play as well, making sense of this senseless incident,” she said. 

“A lot of emotions, a lot of coping.” 

Caoile said that the community becomes even more important during times of tragedy.  

“What we have is worth the sacrifices of people that already passed away,” she said. 

“The reason we have to look at and focus on events such as this is because that’s where we show our pride, our vibrancy, our resiliency, our love for our culture, our belonging in a country we now call our home.” 

Events like Lapu Lapu days and Fiesta Filipino can support and heal communities by bringing culture to the forefront, according to Caoile. She called the events “melting pots of understanding.” 

“It’s the beginning of understanding who we are as a people and who we will be as Filipino Canadians.” 

In solidarity with victims and survivors alike, flags at Calgary’s city hall building will be at half-mast until Wednesday at sunset, with a candle-lit vigil taking place on the city hall steps at 5 p.m. 

“On behalf of Calgarians and members of council, I extend our deepest condolences to the Vancouver community and to Filipino communities across Canada,” said Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp, who was deputy mayor to start Tuesday’s Regular Meeting of Council.  

“Filipinos around the world are known for their vibrant and joyful ways of expressing their culture, their kindness, work ethic and contributions to the communities where they live, and this festival was a showcase for that.” 

Sharp calls for constant evaluations on street festival security

Councilor Terry Wong said he has family and friends in the Filipino community both here and in Vancouver. 

“My heart goes out to them as well as to all the people that were injured,” he said. 

Coun. Wong said the incident provided time to pause to reflect on how Calgary handles local street festivals. He would like to see a stronger presence at events.  He drew upon past experiences as the executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement Area.

“There’s been many times we held street festivals, and volunteers, quite frankly, are manning our barriers, letting people come and go. I’d like to think that we could do better than that. I’d like to think that with the additional dollars we gave at budget time to host different festivals and events, we use those dollars to help our communities,” he said.  

“Harden our corridor, so to speak, as opposed to putting kids literally, to manage the barricade.” 

Chief Administrative Officer David Duckworth said that city administration works with the Calgary Police Service, the Calgary Fire Department, Alberta Health Services, EMS and their own events team to ensure appropriate safety measures are in place.

“Each year, we complete approximately 100 emergency response plans for festivals and community events, and these plans prepare for medical emergencies, fires, bomb threats, violence and many other types of threats,” he said.

Sharp brought up the similarities between the Lapu Lapu tragedy and a similar instance in Calgary.  

“Many years ago in Kensington, I believe it was teenage or young adults were out, just leaving a restaurant, and a senseless act of a driver killing a young lady,” she said.  

Sharp said that when tragedies like these happen, governments re-evaluate the process.  

Instead of retroactively securing events, Sharp believes policymakers should be constantly evaluating.  

“We are a very big city, it’s growing. We have a lot of events coming. I do believe councilor (Jasmine) Mian posed that question this morning during question period, and to hear that they’re working on that is really important,” she said.  

“If you don’t have a safe city, you have nothing.”