After attack, Vancouver Filipinos say they're leaning on 'kapwa,' or togetherness

Filipino Canadians in Vancouver have been participating in vigils, planning fundraisers for victims and providing meals to locals immediately after the attack.

Thirty minutes after Diana Silva, a vendor at the Filipino festival in Vancouver, left the party Saturday night, she heard that a car had plowed into the crowd at the event. Silva said she immediately began thinking of how to help.

It’s one example of how Filipino Canadians in the area’s tight-knit community have been participating in vigils, planning fundraisers for victims and providing meals to locals immediately after the attack.

TJ Conwi, a Filipino Canadian chef who has lived in the area for about 30 years, said the immediate acts of communal care reflect the concept of “kapwa,” a Tagalog word that means the interconnectedness and togetherness in the Filipino community. 

“When you say ‘we’re kapwa,’ you’re talking about a whole community. You’re talking about how we all fall together and all rise together, whatever it is that we go through. And it’s just so powerful to see that at the vigil yesterday,” said Conwi, 48, who attended the festival with family members the morning of the tragedy. “It’s automatic, it’s given, it’s not even earned.”

The attack killed 11 people and injured more than two dozen others. The victims were 5 to 65 years old, officials said at a news conference Sunday, adding that the death toll could rise. So far, law enforcement has sidestepped discussing a motive, but it has ruled out terrorism as a possibility.