More than a thousand people dressed in black and sombre colors formed long, silent queues outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on Sunday evening, each waiting patiently to place white flowers on the steps in memory of the 151 victims of the Wang Fuk Court inferno, as the disaster continues to send shockwaves through Chinese communities worldwide.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Organized by local Hong Kong diaspora groups, the spontaneous vigil stretched from late afternoon into the night, offering a shared space for grief, solidarity, and quiet anger.
Mourners, many clutching single stems or handwritten notes, stood for over an hour in the cold just for a moment to bow and pay respects.
Some spoke of heartbreak over what they called a preventable tragedy caused by human failure, while others demanded a full and transparent investigation into allegations of corruption and negligence surrounding the renovation work.
The Civic Education Society Canada chairman Kenneth Tung suggested the Hong Kong government should appoint a panel led by retired local and overseas judges to conduct open hearings, insisting that only the clearest possible account of what went wrong can honor the dead and prevent future disasters.
