Manitoba Filipino communities 'unite as 1' at vigil mourning 11 killed in Vancouver festival attack
CBC
More than 300 people packed into a Winnipeg auditorium on Tuesday night to honour the 11 people killed and dozens injured during the attack on the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver last weekend.
The Philippine flag outside Philippine-Canadian Centre of Manitoba in Winnipeg was flying at half mast as community members arrived for the 7 p.m. event.
Radisson MLA Jelynn Dela Cruz, whose office organized the event, said the tragedy is a "shared hurt" for members of the Filipino community across Canada.
"There are also people far beyond the walls of this room who share in our grief, nationwide, across the seas," she said.
"We're all in this together."
A black SUV drove into the street festival crowd as the event was winding down around 8 p.m. PT on Saturday, killing 11 people and injuring dozens. A Vancouver man is now facing multiple second-degree murder charges in relation to the attack.
Winnipeg is home to the largest per capita Filipino population in Canada, Dela Cruz said, adding that some people consider the city a "year-long Filipino festival" because of the many cultural events hosted here.
She said the hurt caused by the Vancouver attack is deeply felt here.
"The entire community feels that harm because we are so integrated in the framework and the fabric of this province," Dela Cruz said.
At the vigil, community members spoke to the deep connections within the Filipino diaspora across Canada.
WATCH | Winnipeg's Filipino community unites in grief:
Bayani Marcelino told CBC News he has family living in Vancouver, calling them to check in as soon as he heard about the attack. He said his relatives planned to attend the festival, but thankfully didn't go on Saturday.
Still, he said he couldn't sleep days after the attack because the people impacted "are all family."
"They are all Filipino and we are Filipino, so we have to give our support and our condolences to those families," Marcelino said.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.
For years, there has been “glaring inequity” in the way the province has allocated the millions of dollars in its county roads budget, according to Department of Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Six months after passing a law aimed at making it easier for new grocery stores to open, Manitoba's premier says lower grocery bills could be on the horizon.
Timothy Smith was acting in self-defence when he punched Landon Waddell, and shouldn't be found guilty of manslaughter, his lawyer says.
Thoroughbred horse racing at Vancouver’s Hastings Racecourse is ending after more than a century, with the operator announcing Friday it will no longer run a racing season at the historic facility.