Why We Co-Present the International Fest Canada Tour
Fondation Mir Héritage · alongside Crescent Events Co. and TriCity Bazaar
People sometimes ask why a community foundation helps present a festival. It is a fair question and it has a straightforward answer.
The families we exist for do not walk into offices. They walk into festivals.
Everything we do depends on one thing: reaching people who are not being reached. Newcomer families. Households where English is a second or third language. Communities where asking for help carries a weight that people outside them underestimate.
These are the families least likely to telephone a helpline or walk into a service office — and among the most likely to bring their children to a weekend of food, music and dancing.
So that is where we go. The festival is not something we sponsor. It is how our programmes reach people.
What we do there
Children's Gift Programme
Families register in advance and every registered child receives a gift from us at the festival — every child, at every age. We hold gifts back by age band so that no child is handed something meant for someone years older or younger.
Age bands: 0–3 · 4–6 · 7–9 · 10–12 · 13–15 · 16–17
Donating? Teenagers are the group most collections leave out. If you are choosing what to give, a gift for a 13 to 17 year old is the one we are most likely to be short of.
Register your child →Community Wellbeing Table
Staffed, in several languages, with clear information on mental health support, employment insurance and housing help. No forms. No registration. No names taken. Just someone to talk to, and somewhere to be pointed.
Our programmes →What we do not do
We are precise about this, because a foundation's credibility depends on it.
We take no share of ticket, vendor or sponsorship revenue. None. No Foundation money subsidises the festival or any business trading at it.
We are a co-presenter, not an operator. We do not contract vendors, handle event money, or control programming.
We treat the circumstances of every family we help as private. We never publish or share identifying information about anyone who receives support from us.
We are not clinicians. We do not diagnose, assess or treat, and we do not give legal or medical advice.
We are not yet a registered charity and cannot issue charitable tax receipts. We say so wherever we ask for anything.
What we bring
Our name as co-presenter.
The community programming that runs alongside the festival.
Our relationships with community organisations, faith centres and cultural associations across Waterloo Region.
And our volunteers.
Join us
International Fest Canada Tour
Cambridge
14–15 November 2026 · Polish Club of Cambridge, 265 Avenue Road
Saturday 11:00–21:00 · Sunday 11:00–19:00
Festival tickets and vendors → internationalfest.ca