“Everyone gets busy in life but I remember a year ago when it happened, we had this awakening in our community of how important it is to reach out and care for each other,” said Lily Cheng, a community organizer and one of the people behind the We Love Willowdale group that is helping co-ordinate Tuesday’s commemoration events.

“We want to redeem that. We want to say those lives were not for nothing. We can do that by being a better community, by building even deeper connections within our community.”