Debris is seen on East 43rd Avenue in Vancouver, where a vehicle drove into a crowd at a Lapu Lapu Day festival the night before, on April 27, 2025.Rich Lam/The Canadian Press
Mayor Ken Sim has released Vancouver’s final report on outdoor-event safety after this spring’s deadly SUV attack at a Filipino block party, pledging to act quickly on its recommendations while conceding that the most needed fix – better mental-health services – is beyond the city’s control.
Among its eight recommendations, the joint review by city staff and the Vancouver Police Department, released Thursday, urges the city to develop formal plans for both permanent and event-specific measures to mitigate vehicle attacks.
It also recommends that the city push higher levels of government for standardized safety-event legislation and resources, and for the development of a provincial incident-response management guide.
Mr. Sim said the city and its police force will move “as quickly as possible” to implement the recommendations. However, he added that they will have limited effect without action from the province on the untreated mental-health issues that are at the root of many of the city’s challenges.
“Even if we were given a trillion dollars, we are not health care,” said Mr. Sim, who stood alongside police and some councillors at a news conference at City Hall.
“And so, we are asking – we are begging – for action from the province on this one."
Eleven people died and dozens more were injured when an SUV plowed through the crowd shortly after the official end of festivities at the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party in southeast Vancouver in April.
Adam Lo, 30, of Vancouver, was detained by bystanders at the scene and arrested. He has been charged with 11 counts of second-degree murder and remains in custody.
How the horror of the deadly Lapu-Lapu vehicle attack unfolded
The Globe and Mail reported in May that Mr. Lo was designated an involuntary outpatient in the care of a community mental-health team after a forced hospital stint in 2024, which occurred around the time his older brother was murdered.
He had had more than 100 police interactions over the past two decades – most of them self-initiated – including one the day before the attack, when he reported to police strange smells in his vehicle.
Mr. Lo’s care team had concerns in the past that he was unwilling to take his medication for schizophrenia. Recently, he had been deemed a high risk for his mental health to decline, according to a source with knowledge of Mr. Lo’s contact with authorities. The Globe is not naming the source because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about Mr. Lo.
In response to the mayor’s comments, B.C.’s Ministry of Health said in a statement that it welcomed Vancouver’s work on event safety, and that the province is taking steps to build a stronger mental-health system.
“That includes important actions like adding more involuntary care and mental-health beds, launching mobile crisis units, modernizing the Mental Health Act and strengthening early interventions and prevention supports to get people the care they need," the ministry said in the statement, provided by communications director Chris Shewchuk.
The final report, which builds on a preliminary review released in May, said that festival organizers had undertaken all permitting and planning requirements leading up to the event, which was appropriately assessed as low risk.
Nonetheless, the report issued recommendations aimed at enhancing event safety and responding to public concerns after the deadly attack, which Chief Constable Steve Rai at the time said marked “the darkest day in our city’s history.”
Vancouver should create a city-specific framework to guide the design and retrofit of permanent hostile-vehicle mitigation measures, which could include bollards and concrete planters, the report recommended.
It should also develop formal guidelines on such measures for outdoor public events, which include vehicle and concrete barriers, as well as policing and additional staffing.
Media argues against publication ban on fitness hearing for suspect in Lapu-Lapu Day vehicle attack
Other recommendations include enhanced training and safety planning tools for event planners, standardizing early safety planning and access control protocols, and allocating capital funding for the recommended safety enhancements.
Kristina Corpin-Moser, executive director of Filipino BC, which organized the April block party, said there is an urgent need for the recommended provincial incident-response management guide, adding that much of the post-incident response has been handled by community groups and corporate donors.
“It is essential, however, that all levels of government play a larger and more significant role − particularly given the context in which this event occurred," she said in a statement issued Thursday.
“The neighbourhood most affected is both chronically underfunded and predominantly racialized, making government intervention crucial to ensure that the basic needs of those impacted are met.”
Police have already taken some measures to mitigate similar attacks and allay public anxieties, increasing use of vehicle and concrete barriers at several recurring events this summer, including the Celebration of Light fireworks competition, the Vancouver Pride Parade and Italian Day on the Drive.
Asked about next year’s FIFA World Cup games in Vancouver, Inspector Jeff Neuman with VPD’s emergency-operations and planning section said police have been preparing for more than three years, working with RCMP and police in Toronto, which will also be hosting matches.
A separate inquiry into the festival attack, commissioned by the province and released in July, recommended that the government mandate risk assessments for all such gatherings, clarify jurisdictional roles and improve training.
Terry Yung, B.C. minister of state for community safety, said his office welcomes all public-safety initiatives and is reviewing findings of the latest report to determine how it can be incorporated into the continuing work stemming from the province’s commission of inquiry.
Two psychiatrists interviewed Mr. Lo extensively over the summer, but their findings are covered by a publication ban. A judge is expected to determine later this month whether he is fit to stand trial.