A Community Still Grieving
It has been almost a year since a vehicle drove into the crowd at Vancouver’s Lapu-Lapu Day festival on April 26, 2025, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. Adam Kai-Ji Lo faces 11 counts of second-degree murder and 31 counts of attempted murder in connection with the attack.
Now, organizers have announced the festival will return on April 19, 2026, relocated from Fraser Street to the Italian Cultural Centre, with enhanced safety measures in place. And the response from some survivors has been clear: it’s not time.
A Survivor Speaks
“It’s disrespectful for us if they do it again, not even a year later,” said Val De La Cruz, who was injured in the attack. De La Cruz required surgery after the ramming and watched his two-year-old son suffer a concussion. His son still experiences trauma-related anxiety around vehicles.
More than 1,200 people have signed a petition opposing the festival’s return. Roan Hidalgo, who started the petition, said: “Most of us in the community are still grieving”, and that a full year hasn’t been enough time to process what happened.
Organizers: Healing Takes Many Forms
Filipino B.C., the organization behind the event, has acknowledged that the community is not monolithic in its grief. Some survivors and members want the cultural celebration to continue, a defiant act of healing and remembrance. Others are not ready.
“Everyone experiences grief and healing in their own way, on their own time,” the organization said, noting the 2026 gathering will focus on “reflection and communal healing” rather than a full-scale festival.
The venue change is deliberate, away from the scene of the attack, and organizers say safety infrastructure will be significantly enhanced.
A City and a Community at a Crossroads
Lapu-Lapu Day celebrates Datu Lapulapu, a Filipino hero, and has been a beloved Vancouver cultural event for years. The attack transformed it into a site of trauma, and the question of when and how to reclaim that celebration is one the Filipino-Canadian community is navigating in real time, without a clear consensus.
For survivors like De La Cruz, the wounds are still raw. For others, returning, changed, carefully, together, is part of the path forward.
Source: CBC News
