Morning Update: The victims of the Vancouver attack

Good morning. We look at what we’ve learned about the tragedy in Vancouver’s Filipino community – more on that below, along with Ontario’s measles outbreak and a change on Donald Trump’s national security team. But first:

Today’s headlines

• Conservative caucus will meet to select an interim opposition leader amid concerns that Liberals are trying to poach disgruntled MPs
• Alberta‘s Justice Minister has a personal relationship with a man whose businesses are tied to the province’s health authority investigation
• General Motors cuts its profit outlook on tariff exposure risk while China signals it is willing to open trade talks with the U.S.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs downs the Ottawa Senators 4-2 to set up the second round of Stanley Cup playoffs against the Florida Panthers

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Vancouver attack

‘An unimaginable loss’

Hi, I’m Wendy Cox, I’ve been The Globe’s B.C. bureau chief for 11 years.

When terrible things happen in Canada, newsrooms lean on every available resource. Some reporters scan social media and work the phones for information. Others are dispatched urgently to the scene.

Usually, reporters hit some sort of roadblock or police checkpoint, a yellow-tape cordon keeping journalists away from seeing too much or talking to too many people.

Not last Saturday night. Nancy Macdonald arrived at the Filipino community’s Lapu-Lapu Day street festival within two hours of an SUV charging down a street lined with food trucks and crashing into people leaving an outdoor concert from members of the Black Eyed Peas.

It was warm, what felt like the first evening of summer, and Nancy stood amid a streetscape filled with the aftermath of chaos. White tarps covered what appeared to be bodies.

Shoes, rolls of paper towels, empty plates and other detritus littered the scene. It was so strangely quiet, given the revving engine and then the screams and cries for help and mercy depicted in videos of the area from just a couple hours before.

Eleven were killed. Dozens were injured, taken to multiple hospitals around the region. Ten remain in hospital in critical or serious condition, including a 22-month-old boy.

Nancy and Globe reporter Jana Pruden wrote profiles on the victims who died in the attack. Take some time to learn more about who they were and the lives they lived.

Two families lost three members each. A 16-year-old who stayed at home to study lost his mother, father and five-year-old sister. A 27-year-old who was holding his mother’s hand lost her when the vehicle ripped her from him. His friend, who had come to Canada from Brazil to live more freely as a trans person, was also killed. He himself is still in hospital with a badly broken leg.

Eventually, the Audi SUV came to a stop and the enraged crowd surged toward it as the driver tried to run. The driver was caught by festival-goers, but Dudley Green stood in front of the driver and refused a man’s request that he move. He needs to die,” the man told Green, who recounted the conversation to Jana Pruden.

“I don’t disagree,” Green said he told the man. “But now is not the time.”

For those of us working that night, there was a feeling of: It’s here now.

The 2018 van attack in Toronto killed 11. There have been mass-casualty vehicle attacks over the last decade in Berlin, Nice, London, Stockholm, New York and New Orleans.

Vancouver police have repeatedly been asked why there wasn’t more security at the Lapu-Lapu Day festival. The city’s interim chief said the police’s own risk assessment found there were no known threats. Fortifying every event in the city would mean a massive change in how the hundreds of events that are held every year could be conducted, police said.

Premier David Eby has announced a public inquiry will be likely after Adam Lo, 30, has faced trial on second-degree murder charges.

Mike Hager reported extensively this week that Lo had twice been detained under the Mental Health Act and was under supervision at the time of the attack. Lo had multiple interactions with police, most of them instigated by Lo himself complaining of a variety of harms. His health team had deemed him unwilling to take medication for his schizophrenia.

Eby said that by next month, he hopes for a report into how police should secure such festivals as the Lapu-Lapu Day gathering. And the Premier also announced a review of the province’s Mental Health Act.

“We will never be normal again,” Sgt. Steve Addison said.

More from The Globe

• The Decibel podcast: Eyewitness accounts of the Vancouver festival attack
• Opinion: Vancouver’s Filipino community will not let fear win, despite the Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy
• Later: Eby promises public inquiry if suspect’s criminal trial fails to answer questions

The Shot

‘I think as a content creator, I have an important role.’

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Financial influencers known as “finfluencers” are stepping into the role of financial translator in volatile markets, and they’re finding their reach – and responsibility – is growing fast.

The Wrap

What else we’re following

At home: Ontario’s Health Minister defended government response to a growing measles outbreak. Public Health Ontario said in its weekly update that 1,243 cases are now associated with the surge.

Abroad: Donald Trump taps national security adviser Mike Waltz to serve as United Nations ambassador in a major national security team switch-up.

Backed: The World Health Organization plans to officially back the use of weight-loss drugs to treat obesity in adults for the first time.

Dropped: The proportion of women in the House of Commons dips after the election, the first time since 2004 that the share has decreased.

Loved: Globe and Mail staffers and readers share books they are reading and loving this month.