My condolences to the Filipino community in the wake of the unimaginably horrible tragedy of the past weekend at the Lapu Lapu festival.
For all of you passionate about community building, events, and fostering belonging, this is your worst nightmare.
The assault on values, families, friends, and cultural moments, resulting in lives lost and life-altering injuries, let alone those who must go on without those they adored, leaves one speechless.
Where does a moment like this leave you?
Today and the immediate future are a time for mourning, reflection, and emotional recovery for those impacted. For those of you at a distance, your heavy hearts and support for those involved are undoubtedly significant and uncompromised. Your emotional reflections are probably paired with your intellectual assessment of how this scenario can be prevented in the future.
Do you look at structural opportunities to improve our planning around safety and security at events? Are all event organizers, government officials, and stakeholders adhering to recommended approaches? Or do we live in a world where budget or other factors challenge the implementation of these protocols?
We all know that tragedy often has the impact of snapping us out of complacency. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is.
While raising these points may seem insensitive soon after this weekend, saving lives is never too soon. Especially as we head into the busy festival season across the country, we all should double down on procedures and processes to reduce the likelihood of such events repeating themselves.
That will undoubtedly be our immediate and natural reaction, although is it enough?
Given reports about the attacker’s mental well-being, there is also a broader societal issue that we need to address. This points to foundational problems in our society related to health care, addiction, food, and housing insecurity, not to mention equipping our various public services with the training, tools, and mandate clarity.
No amount of barricades or processes will stop someone intent on harming people at an event, although you hope to mitigate as best you can. It may also be the case that no amount of upstream prevention or downstream treatments can solve the mental health tsunami we are in today.
However, I don’t believe that.
We can all see firsthand the challenges in the world regarding mental illness. We can’t sit back and do nothing, and we can acknowledge a massive need for solutions in our schools, medical systems, and more.
We can no longer live in a new state where these things don’t happen in Canada. They do. While we have not seen this sort of attack at an event, our land is not immune to mass murders, such as the 2018 van attack in North York, Ontario. This weekend’s events were probably a trigger point for the victim’s friends and families from that dark moment, which I am sure rekindled the pain of the past and future.
I know our community will bond together in support of the Filipino community. I know our community will discuss ensuring this doesn’t happen again. I understand that the attack on an event feels personal for all of us.
I hope it does.