In the wake of tragedy, Vancouver's Sunset neighbourhood grows closer and stronger

As a child, Rob Nijjar figured South Vancouver's Sunset neighbourhood must be the city's downtown core — it was always a bustling area filled with people from around the world. 

He did everything in that community. It was where he saw his first film, visited a bank for the first time and shopped for groceries. He grew up there. 

"It's a really, really genuine, down to earth place that welcomes everybody," Nijjar said. "It doesn't matter your economic level, what culture, what language, no English at all. You're really, really welcome here."

Now, as executive director of the Sunset on Fraser Business Association, he said the community has come together even stronger in the wake of the Lapu-Lapu Day festival tragedy on April 26, which left 11 people dead and many more injured. 

"It was absolutely devastating," Nijjar said. "You take it so personally."

Andy Yan, an associate professor in Simon Fraser University's urban studies department, said the Sunset neighbourhood is one of the most diverse places in Vancouver. About 83 per cent of residents identify as being part of a visible minority, while 53 per cent are immigrants, Yan said.

"The city of Vancouver is certainly diverse, but it's within Sunset that it is hyper-diverse," he said. "It brings in people from around the world into this incredible part of the city."

But, Yan said, it's also an underappreciated area. It's certainly not the neighbourhood that's advertised to tourists, and Yan said when he paid a visit to the site of the festival tragedy in recent weeks, he noticed sidewalks that were cracked and not maintained as well as they are in other parts of Vancouver. 

It's not perfect sidewalks or tourists that make the community, though. It's the people who live and work there every day. 

At Friends on Fraser, a salon near Fraser Street and 43rd Avenue, owner May Duong said she visits the site of the tragedy, just two blocks away, multiple times a day. 

"When we have free time, we come there, we pray for [those lost]."

She said she's been checking in on her customers who live in the area a little more, calling them to make sure they're doing alright. Duong takes the name of her business, which she's owned for 25 years, to heart: all her customers are her friends.

"We pray together."

A few blocks south of Duong's shop, café owner Nikhil Kurundvade said community members have been coming together over a cup of chai to grieve. 

"In India they [say] chai is not just a chai, it's an emotion," he said. "Chai basically connects people."

He arrived in Vancouver 11 years ago, at age 23, with his high school sweetheart. They went to university together and now, have opened up a café in the community that Kurundvade said has always been so kind to him. 

"When I was a student, I was looking for a job and I was kind of going through different shops and stores or cafés and everybody was so welcoming," he said. "They offered some free snacks, free food." 

He said business owners promised to let him know when a job opened up — which they did. He worked in the community for about eight years before starting his own business, which he hopes will give back to newcomers the way others helped him. 

That's why he's been gathering with community members to connect and rebuild, stronger than ever. 

"We get together, have chai or have coffee and then discuss, and we get a chance to grieve what happened and how we can prevent something like this from happening in future," Kurundvade said. 

"It's so unfortunate that this happened, but we are trying our best to cope with the incident that took place."