A note about Teej 2026

Namaste, everyone.

We are writing with news we are genuinely sorry to have to share. After listening carefully to our community over the past week, the committee has come to the difficult decision that this is not the right year for us to hold our Teej celebration on Saturday 12 September.

It has come to our attention that a number of conversations about Teej have been taking place on social media, and in community groups that are not official NEST channels. We have read them with care, and we would like to begin by thanking everyone who took the time to speak. It is not always an easy thing to say how you feel in front of people you know, and we understand the feeling behind what was said. Nothing about it was unwelcome.

What we heard, in many different words and from many different people, was that a good number of our members would find it very hard to celebrate while families at home are still counting what they have lost. Others felt, just as sincerely, that an evening spent together is exactly how a community carries something like this. We are grateful for both, and we hold both in equal respect.

In the end, a celebration is only truly a celebration when the whole community is able to be in it together, and we do not feel that we are quite there this year. We would much rather wait, and hold an evening that everybody is able to enjoy with a full heart.

We are sorry for the disappointment this will bring, especially to those who had been looking forward to it, and to those who had already made arrangements to come. Please know the decision was not taken lightly.

Your registration

If you paid to attend, please do not worry. Whenever it suits you, please drop us a line at [email protected] and let us know which of these you would prefer:

• A full refund, returned to the same account you paid from
• Your payment forwarded to the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund on your behalf
• Your payment held by NEST toward our next community gathering

If we do not hear from you, we will simply send your refund, and that is perfectly alright. Whichever you choose is entirely your own business, and you owe nobody an explanation for it.

The relief fund is still open, and it always was

The QR code for the Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund was shared on the night of the vigil, which so many of you attended, and it has been shared since by members of the community. You will find it at the top of every page on this site. Please do keep passing it on. We will publish the total that goes from Thunder Bay, whatever it comes to.

If you would like to help us organise a proper fundraiser here, we would be very glad to hear from you. We would rather not organise this one alone, and we think it will be the better for it.

Give to the relief fund →

If you or your family have been affected

Please do reach out to us. We would not wish to assume anything about anybody, and we have no way of knowing who among us has been affected unless somebody feels able to tell us. If that is you, or if you know of a family here who is struggling, please send us a message and we will come to you.

We should also say gently that we are volunteers rather than counsellors or therapists. We can sit with you, cook for you, drive you, and help you find the right door. For proper support, these services are here and open around the clock:

• Emergency: 911
• Crisis Response Services, Thunder Bay, 24 hours: 807-346-8282
• Toll free across the district: 1-866-888-8988
• Suicide Crisis Helpline, call or text, 24 hours: 988
• ConnexOntario, mental health and addictions, 24 hours: 1-866-531-2600
• Community and social services: 211

A thank you that still stands

A great many people gave up their evenings for this. The cooks, the performers, the children who have been practising so hard, and the volunteers who booked the hall and printed the cards. Cancelling takes nothing at all away from what you did, and we hope you will forgive us for asking you to hold on to it a little longer. We will need every bit of it again soon.

Haritalika Teej fell on Monday 14 September. We hope you marked it at home, in your own way, with whoever was with you. And if you have a moment this week, telephone somebody who is on their own.

These have been heavy weeks for a good many of us. Thank you for your patience and your understanding, and thank you for the care you continue to show one another. That care is what makes this community what it is, and it is what we will be leaning on in the weeks ahead. Our next gathering is Dashain, on Saturday 24 October. You will find the details on the Events page.

With warm regards, and our thanks,

NEST