One Year After the Lapu Lapu Day Attack, a Community Is Divided

On a large stage before a small crowd, Chief Karen Fry of Vancouver Fire Rescue Services was reading a few prepared remarks at the 2026 Lapu Lapu Day of Togetherness. This year’s event was held on April 19 and was organized by Filipino BC, a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering the Filipino diaspora. It took place at the Italian Cultural Centre on Slocan Street in East Vancouver, far from the stretch of East 43rd Avenue near Fraser Street where, one year ago on April 26, 2025, a man drove an SUV through a crowd, killing 11 people and injuring over 30 more.

“We discovered that day,” Fry told the gathering, “that compassion moves faster than chaos.”

“Bullshit!” someone shouted. “Shame on you!”

The cries came not from the people standing quietly in front of the stage, but from the other side of a high security fence, where a row of protesters lined the sidewalk beside Grandview Highway. They were family and friends of people killed and injured on Lapu Lapu Day last year. They were angry. They did not think the 2026 Lapu Lapu Day event should have been happening at all.

For them, at least, it was not a day of togetherness.

“We begged them not to hold this event,” said Jhosie Sico, mother of AJ Sico, who suffered a severe brain injury in the attack, and aunt of Jendhel Sico, who was killed. “Just for this year, to show respect. But they’re not listening. They just want money.”

Filipino BC chair RJ Aquino has been on the frontlines of the public response to the Lapu Lapu Day tragedy for the past year. It is not, he pointed out, a situation anyone anticipated. “I mean, one day we’re festival organizers, and the next day we’re organizing an emergency response,” he said.

“I want to acknowledge that everyone grieves differently, everyone heals differently,” Aquino said, several days after the April 19 event.

“But we felt there’s this call from the community that really wanted to gather. We talked to many people, people that were there, and people that are still under our care, about what the day should look like, if the day should even happen. Certainly it wasn’t a festival. But it’s still important for the community to be able to gather, is what we heard.”

A complicated grief

The senseless act of violence perpetrated one year ago had as its most immediate effects the loss of 11 lives, many catastrophic injuries and severe emotional trauma for relatives and witnesses. A year later, it continues to generate repercussions within the Vancouver Filipino community and beyond. The pain of that day has not diminished. It has just become more complex.

In the wake of the tragedy, donations poured in from those seeking to help victims and their families. The use and disbursement of those funds have been a source of anger and controversy.

At an April 23 press conference, Vancouver-Kensington NDP MLA Mable Elmore told reporters that she sent a letter demanding accountability from United Way British Columbia, the charity designated to handle the funds.

Her letter, Elmore said, is “just a request to them... to do the right thing and support victims and survivors who continue to need this support.”

Elmore also held a press conference in March opposing plans for the 2026 Lapu Lapu Day of Togetherness.

Aquino said that March press conference was frustrating and counterproductive.

“We’ve been asking for support and help from the government, requesting formal meetings, sending formal notifications, letters, communication, all of that,” he said. “So it was really confusing and jarring to see that press conference with calls for transparency when we haven’t even received the response from the government. That was disappointing, to say the least.

“That press conference, I would say, really escalated the online threats and harassment and amplified the misinformation that’s out there. And ever since then, leading up to [this year’s event], we were dealing with a lot of online bullying, harassment, intimidation, some in person. We’ve been working with the VPD and the hate crimes unit in that regard. And we’ll have more to say about it soon.”

Several artists who had been scheduled to appear at this year’s event cancelled after getting pushback online. There were booths and food trucks around the lot in front of the cultural centre, but as of mid-afternoon the crowd seemed sparse.

Still, Aquino saw it as a success. “A lot of people came,” he said, “but it’s more the impact that it had on the people that did come. I had a lot of conversations with people that were there. There was a gentleman that started sharing his story. He said, ‘I was there. There were bodies around. I was barely missed.’

“He was rather animated retelling the story. And his wife told me, ‘That’s the first time he’s talked about this to somebody outside of the family.’”

‘It was being treated like a series of car accidents’

Outside the grounds, many of the survivors had difficulty speaking without becoming emotional. Vanessa Hill’s boyfriend AJ Sico suffered a severe brain injury, and there is still no telling how far his recovery will progress. “He doesn’t recognize me,” Hill said. “Some days he’s like a 10-year-old, throwing tantrums. Other times we get the sense he is aware of what happened.”

Some of the victims’ families direct their anger at ICBC. There is a general feeling that the provincial Crown corporation providing vehicular insurance has failed to appreciate the unique gravity of the situation. “They seemed to have no plan for handling a disaster like this,” said Hill. “It was being treated like a series of car accidents.”

“I even felt bad for the ICBC adjustor we dealt with,” said Blaine Redlac, who was struck while standing with his fiancée, Jendhel Sico, and suffered a serious leg injury that initially left him bedridden. “It seemed like most of the claims got dumped on this guy.”

“We’ve heard the same thing,” Aquino said, “and we continue to deal with a lot of the challenges being presented when people find out, ‘Oh, I’ve used up all of my entitlements, I’m no longer able to receive any benefits.’ They come to us trying to figure out what to do next. How did a small non-profit like Filipino BC become an emergency response provider for long-term care?

“We’ve called out for support, asked all three levels of government for support for months now, almost immediately after the tragedy, because we’re not equipped. It’s difficult for us to even reach people, because we don’t have the ability to find out who was affected. We’re not the kind of organization that can go through private or personal information. That’s the responsibility of government agencies.”

The protesters gathered at the Italian Cultural Centre had many complaints, some of which focused on the perceived insensitivity of Filipino BC to their concerns. “This year’s event was announced in an email that went out Dec. 23 and started by announcing holiday office hours,” said one protester, who wished to remain anonymous.

Other concerns involved the use of funds. Hill said that after her family was provided with roughly $40,000 to pay for hotel accommodations near the hospital, the funding stopped. “They spent $30,000 on a healing circle,” she said. “They painted a basketball court.”

Aquino pointed out that requests for funds are all handled by the United Way. “Filipino BC isn't receiving any donations directly. We do receive disbursements. We have to apply for them like everybody else and we're subject to the same reporting, and all of the funds that we do receive from the United Way go directly to victims and families.”

Redlac, 29, is back on his feet, albeit now with titanium plates and wires in his right leg. He was a marathon runner before being injured and plans to be one again. Mayor Ken Sim, Redlac said, has promised to put him in touch with Rick Hansen to discuss a plan he has formed. “If I can run marathons,” he said, “why not run across the country?”

After leaving the stage at the Lapu Lapu Day of Togetherness event, Chief Fry and several firefighters went out to greet the protesters lined up along Grandview Highway.

Fry’s presence seemed to defuse most of the hostility (and it appeared unlikely that those who were shouting from the other side of the security fence during her remarks could see the identity of the speaker).

Fry sought out Alejandro Samper, who lost his sister and both his parents that day, and pressed a coin into his hand. It was, she explained, a challenge coin, a token given to recognize bravery, sacrifice and courage within the firefighting community. Samper thanked the firefighters for their response that day, as did several of the other protesters before they moved off the sidewalk to gather in a nearby park. There was no more angry shouting, but the mood remained sombre.

Will the festival ever return to its former home on south Fraser? Aquino couldn’t say. But he hopes the Lapu Lapu Day festival will survive. “Just the joy that it brought to the community — it would be tragic to lose that. As we figure things out, it’ll be a conversation. But we know we can’t let what happened define the community. The community will emerge stronger.”

“But I think one of the lessons I hope everybody takes to heart,” Aquino added, “is that, you know, I keep hearing how resilient Filipinos are. ‘You guys will carry yourselves through.’ But resilience is not a substitute for getting the help that we are entitled to. It’s not a substitute for the systems that need to work to help the people that need that help.

“South Vancouver is one of the most racialized neighbourhoods in the city, and the response has been disappointing. After showing up for memorials, candle lighting, laying flowers, speaking words of encouragement and kindness and support, what about after? Has the system been fixed? God forbid if something like this happens again, that people don’t fall through the cracks.”