Festival organizer reacts to B.C. report on event security in the wake of Lapu-Lapu attack

Debris is seen on East 43rd Avenue in Vancouver, where a vehicle drove into crowd at a Lapu Lapu Day festival the night before, on Sunday, April 27, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Rich Lam

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported there was no paid security at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival.

Christi-Ann Watkins is just getting back on her feet after she was seriously injured at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival in Vancouver in April.

She suffered multiple broken bones and road rash all over her body when a driver plowed into the crowd at the event.

Watkins not only attended with her son — she was one of the organizers.

So she welcomes a recommendation in a new report on event security that organizers be given more access to targeted grants, financial support and cost-sharing programs from the B.C. government to help cover security costs.

But she predicts it won’t be easy to navigate.

“I would be very naive to believe that it would be just like a snap of the fingers, would be like, ‘Oh, we’re having an event’ – ‘OK, here’s all the money you need,’” Watkins said. “So it’s time, it’s forms, it’s bureaucracy, it’s red tape, it’s everything. So I understand it’s not going to be easy to apply for.”

Filipino B.C., which organized the festival, said it spent nearly $20,000 on private security, traffic management and fencing for the event.

• Related: Report says all B.C. events should get risk review, in wake of Lapu-Lapu festival tragedy

Another big cultural festival — Carnaval Del Sol — is happening this weekend in Vancouver.

Unlike Lapu-Lapu, it doesn’t not take place on city streets. But the festival is still putting in concrete barriers and metal detectors at event entrances this year.

The security budget has ballooned to $30,000, so Paola Murillo with Latincouver, the organization that puts on the festival, would welcome a grant from the province to help cover the costs next year.

“That would be a huge plus for organizations,” said Murillo. “Security has increased every year for the extra things that the city has wanted.”

Watkins approves of all the report’s recommendations to make big events safer.

“Definitely the number one priority always has been safety of the people. So if it’s one step closer to that then yeah, it’s a positive,” Watkins said, adding she wants more detailed plans from the province. “It’s still quite broad and quite vague. So I think these are baby steps.”

Despite the injuries she sustained, and concerns that her 11-year-old son could suffer ongoing trauma from the horror he witnessed at the festival, she has every intention of being part of next year’s Lapu-Lapu Day event.

“100 per cent, no doubt,” Watkins said. “I always said I would be if they’d take me. So if they invite me, I’ll be there.”