The Current - Filipino community reeling after festival killings, says organizer

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

RJ Aquino sat on the curb and wept Sunday morning, close to the spot where an SUV rammed into the Lapu Lapu street festival in Vancouver the night before, killing 11 people. Aquino, chair of Filipino BC, says his community is grieving and coming together to heal — and he’s been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from people who want to help.

1942, Europe. Soldiers find a boy surviving alone in the woods. They make him a member of Hitler's army. But what no one would know for decades, he was Jewish. Could a story so unbelievable be true? I'm Dan Goldberg. I'm from CBC's personally, Toy Soldier. Available now wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. It was a beautiful sunny day with lots of happy people and families and kids and I was

here with my family and yeah just grieving in my own way try to come out of the other side. On Saturday night at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in Vancouver a car slammed into the crowd. 11 people were killed, 17 remain in hospital. 30-year-old Kaiji Adam Lo has been charged with eight counts of second-degree murder and police say more charges are expected. Yesterday morning, the day after the horrific incident, R.J. Aquino returned to the scene. He's chair of Filipino BC, the group that organized the Lapu-Lapu Street Festival. He was sitting alone on the curb staring toward the scene of the tragedy through a parking

lot, a chain-link fence and strings of yellow police tape. The food stalls were still set up from the night before. Crying by the side of the road helps, at least in my case. Still trying to make sense of all of it and trying to keep in focus the people that were hurt and deeply affected and making sure that they get the help that they need. Accept that it's okay to not know how you feel. Accept that you don't know everything. Accept that there's going to be a lot of work to do to make sure that

the community heals and grows stronger from this. You've got to shake the cobwebs and start coordinating a proper response. We want to lead with some transparency and accountability to make sure that the support and resources are channeled to those who need it. Communicate openly and clearly with the community to let them know what's being done, who we're working with, the support that we're receiving has quite frankly been overwhelming. It's uplifting to hear how many people want to help. So I'm trying to focus on that. R.J. says the Filipino community will get through this. He's been talking about his feelings with his own family.

Being honest with them and telling them that I don't know everything. I don't know how I'm feeling or that I'm feeling all the feelings and I don't know what to make of them yet. And that I love them, I want to hold them. I want to protect them. And that will be okay. R.J. Aquino is chair of Filipino BC. It's the group that organized the Lapu-Lapu Day Street Festival.

Hundreds of people attended vigils yesterday in Vancouver to cry, to pray, to honor the victims and to lean on one another. My friend's daughter who grew up with my other kids, she was one of the casualties. She was supposed to get married this summer. She died. She's one of the casualties. She got hit. And a couple of our friends, same thing, you know, they're still in the hospital right now. I was just so lucky because I was holding all my gears and I was dropping it off on my shop because I live nearby. And then I just heard the news that somebody texted me, something horrible is happening.

So I drove back instantly because I have my son there and my So so I do call him It's really hard for me This is that's an answer And I tried to call that's right, and I can't get in because this already cops there but my heart was I Was really worried because I because I just left my son in there. Luckily I was able to get a hold of my son-in-law who was with him and he said, oh we're okay dad.

And yeah, it's just so sad. And a beautiful day was yet and suddenly it became the saddest day in our community. But hopefully, you know, we can get through this. We can get through this with the support and prayers from everyone. Yeah. We heard this loud just banging and then we heard screams and I was like whoa what was that so I ran I went out into the street and that's when I seen a dead body and then I looked down the street it was just horrifying and we just cannot believe that something like that would ever happen after such an amazing event. It was beautiful and then

once we decided to go home it was already dark and there were cops everywhere, ambulances everywhere. Thank God for all of the workers, all of the frontline workers that came out that night. Thank you to everyone who came out and who especially wasn't working that called in to decide to come in and help everybody. Thank you all so much. If we hadn't have left that street it would have been me and my friends as well. It happened seven minutes after we left that street. We just have to come together and support one another through these tough times.

That's why I'm here. I could have decided to just pray at home and isolate, but that's not what's needed right now. And we need to be surrounding ourselves with others that also need that support, that also need that help, and that shoulder to cry on. Because my babies, they're Filipino. And this just breaks my heart.

Like it breaks my heart so much. Those are people at a vigil yesterday at St. Mary the Virgin's South Hill Church, which has a largely Filipino congregation. It's in East Vancouver, in the neighborhood where the tragedy took place on Saturday night. Narima Dela Cruz is founding president of the Filipino-Canadian National Congress. She's in Surrey, British Columbia. Narima, good morning. Hi, good morning, Matt.

I'm so sorry for everything that you and for your community has gone through this weekend. It's just awful. How are you doing? It's a mixed emotion, Matt. I'm mostly numb, but I know that these are times that I need to be strong for my community. How are you doing that? How are you doing that? How are you taking care of yourself?

I talk a lot to my family. That helps. We talk about it. And we at least try to focus on some of the things that we need to be thankful for. So that despite the sadness, there is something that we can hold on to hope. That things will be better, that everything will be brighter after this very sad, horrific day, which is really sort of a double-edged sword for me because it was my with thinking that from this year forward, every time I celebrate my birthday, there is this very painful memory that I will remember instead of celebrating. How did you hear about what happened on Saturday? As I said, it was a glorious afternoon, 100,000

people or so were there over the course of this festival. How did you hear about what happened? It was a beautiful day, Matt. So I was in Surrey. I would have been there if it's not my birthday. On my every birthday, I always have an event for a cost. I clean up parks with my friends, my group, my supporters. So we were at the park the entire day cleaning, celebrating my birthday. At the end of the day, one of our members offered to have a karaoke at their place for, so they said to relax. So we were having karaoke at that time. When all of a sudden my phone started buzzing

as in so many messages at the same time. So we stopped the karaoke and they said, Narima, could you check your phone, what's happening? And it turned out that aside from the phone call, it was people sending video on Messenger. And there was one of our very close members who told me that, Narima, there's something horrible happening at Lapu Lapu. And so I quickly put on the video and it was one of those horrifying video. That's how I found out and then my phone started ringing and one of our directors, a very close

friend who was with us at the clean up that morning was, he was there with his wife. They both survived, but the nephew was hit, so he was like frantically telling me all that happened. His wife was missed by the car, but fell, and buddies just fell on her and but the nephew their nephew was hit so he just miraculously wasn't at this exact site because he was checking on his car at that time and he told me that I saw the car coming right in front of me and I ran as fast as I could.

But at the back of my mind I was thinking my wife was there and my nephew was there. And then while I was talking to him I was receiving two other calls. So I didn't know. I told him, okay, I need to pick up the other because it was one of my community kids who's a youth and I knew at that point that he wouldn't call me if it's anything less serious. And I said, my heart stopped for a moment, so I hung up with the other call and I picked up that call and he was crying. I was so worried and he was there too. He was also just missed by the car. He was on the side, so that makes it two. Another

call is coming and another of our young ones, she was also there. She was crying. So it was three calls at the same time. And so I didn't know what to do. So all of us just packed up and all, and I told them, okay, start going home. I need to go to Vancouver. And some of my guests at that time were also residents of Vancouver and they were supposed to take the train going back.

So my husband and I said, okay, let's just take them home one by one. But at that point, I remember, okay, where are our kids? Because we have two kids who are grown up adults and we knew that they are not home. They are with their friends and you know, the generation, the gents said they go out and said they're going somewhere, but not exactly where. Pete You wondered whether they were there? Maricela Yes, yeah. And I was like, oh my God, where they at? The lapu lapu? Because my daughter, my daughter is a singer-songwriter and she was invited to perform.

But she politely declined because of my birthday. She said she wanted to spend the day with me and she was with me during the cleanup during the day, but I knew that she went out with her friends. So my husband was calling my son and I was calling my daughter and we were both, I don't know how we felt at that time. As a parent, you know, we were dreading that phone ringing, hoping that somebody picked up and fortunately both of them picked up.

They didn't know. I'm glad that your family is okay. And I mean, it's just terrifying to hear it because everything is happening at the same time. I'm gonna let you go, but just briefly, one of the things we heard is, this is such a tight community, right? It's a big community, but it's a tight community

and it supports each other. How are people supporting each other now? We were all sad, but we made sure that we, as you said, we are there for each other. We also had a vigil last night, Matt, in Surrey. It was quickly prepared, very short notice at the church in Surrey, but there were hundreds of people who showed up too last night. And we gathered together, even the leaders of the city were there for us. We lighted up candles, offered flowers, and I was very surprised that lots of people showed up

at a very quick notice. We just put it out on Facebook at three in the afternoon. They were going to have a vigil at eight o'clock, so it's basically five hours notice, but hundreds of people showed up and they brought flowers. There were tons of, like not tons, sorry, there were lots of flowers. And then my husband and I were thinking, how are we going to bring all these flowers to the site because the vigil finished at close to around 10 o'clock. So we were planning to bring it today. But then three young people just approached us and told us that they are a member of Migrante, another organization.

They said, we can help, we can bring, because we're heading back to Vancouver. So it's like, they said, we're here to help you, we're going to bring the flowers. So that's the beauty that I found in this situation. There's some good in that community. People want to help out. Right, right. So it was, everything was done, We were able to do the vigil. And yeah, so it was just a show of strength and resiliency of our people and what we call Bionian spirit in this, especially in this difficult, sorrowful times.

Narima, take care of yourself. I'm really glad in an awful situation to have the chance in this, especially in this difficult, sorrowful times. Narima, take care of yourself. I'm really glad in an awful situation to have the chance to talk to you, I really appreciate you speaking to us, but also speaking about that resiliency in the community and how that community has pulled together. I'm sorry for what everybody has gone through, but I appreciate speaking with you.

Take care. Thank you, you too, Matt. Narima Delacru Cruz is president of the Filipino-Canadian National Congress. We reached her in Surrey, British Columbia. Now our change will honour the Supreme Court of Canada and its role in protecting the rights and freedoms of all Canadians.

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of the Supreme Court of Canada coin today. A VP at HBO said no one would ever watch Yellowstone. Stephen King was rejected by 30 publishers, Charles Schultz was told he'd never make a living scribbling, and Missy Elliott was dropped by her label. The stories of famous names, their lesser-known rejections, and the insights those rejections provide. We regret to inform you the Rejection Podcast. Listen to Season 6 wherever you get your podcasts. Jason Proctor is a CBC Vancouver reporter. He has been following the stories that's developed.

Jason, good morning to you. There are so many questions about how this could have happened. What do we know about the man who's been charged in this? Well, so his name is Kaiji Adam Lowe. He's 30 years old. We know from what witnesses have said and from video that's circulated that he apparently got out of the vehicle after this tragedy

and then tried to go away, was detained, was held by security until police arrived and arrested him there. Police have said he has a significant history of mental health interactions with them. They have dealt with him a lot. I can tell you, I mean, he has no presence in terms of criminal charges or anything like that prior to this. And he was charged with eight counts of murder late in the day yesterday. You went to his bail hearing.

Tell us a little bit about what you learned there. I mean, again, this is all, there's so many questions, but there's just details that are trickling out. Yeah, exactly. And so this was a virtual bail hearing that's held through a justice center that again is done virtually. So he appeared from a jail cell in Vancouver before a judicial justice of the peace who was also on lines

by MS teams. There's a publication ban on the proceedings himself, but I can tell you I mean he was wearing gray prison sweats. He said very little during the proceeding. And basically the Crown and defense lawyer spoke as a short proceeding and he'll appear again on May 26, again, in relation to these charges. And that's not to preclude more charges coming because we know there, there are more, uh, victims than, than there are charges at this point.

Police have been asked how something like this could have happened. This was a large street festival, as we mentioned, a hundred thousand people or so out on a street in an area of East Vancouver. What are police saying about how something like this could have unfolded? Well, so essentially they're saying, you know,

they police at least 3000 events, celebrations every year, that there's kind of a risk assessment done and that this did not fit, you know, according to that did not fit an event that they thought that they needed that additional presence. There were police around, there were a couple of things, but nothing major, you know, in the year before they'd had absolutely no police interaction whatsoever. You know, and they kept bringing this back, of course, to the mental health issue that's sort of underlying it.

And I mean, the mayor spoke about that as well and saying, I mean, essentially, you have this problem that this appeared to be a random attack. And you know, they mentioned the word police state in a way is how do you police for that? Now that is an underlying question that they kept coming back to with regards to that. Now, that is an underlying question that they kept coming back to with regards to that. The province of British Columbia, and this speaks to the mental health issue that you raised, has been moving toward the issue of involuntary treatment for those who are in crisis. How do you think that's going to play into the conversation now?

You know, Matt, if anything, I think it's going to expand it because the conversation that we've had around mental health and involuntary care and to the point of the treatment center that they just opened recently as they talk about this is you often deal with issues with regards to mental health and an overlapping substance abuse issue and that has led to these series of high profile attacks here that we've seen on streets. I've covered many cases involving deaths or grave injuries that have occurred of people attacking people from out of the blue, dealing with these joint issues. But there's no suggestion that there is sort of a substance abuse here issue going on, but you have still a long history of mental health interactions that police have had.

And so people are obviously asking, well, what can we do to prevent that? I mean, the police talked about this as well yesterday in terms of how you police for that, because it's very difficult from their perspective. And, you know, as opposed to these other instances, you know, that have occurred with a knife as a weapon. Here you have a very powerful vehicle that has been used as a deadly weapon, essentially. Jason, we'll leave it there. Thank you for this. Thank you. Jason Proctor is a reporter with CBC in Vancouver. The latest on this story can be found on the CBC News website. For more CBC podcasts, go to cbc.ca podcasts.