Upwards of 5 million people saw the contest on television in its heyday in the 1970s, and considering the state of the feminist movement of the time, it was something of a coup for the beauty brigade, especially in a country of just over 20 million inhabitants. Miss Canada flourished through post-war years, the advent of feminism, the hip '70s and the apathy of the '80s, only to be done in by the recession in 1992, leaving an empty spot in the hearts of pageant organizers and beauty queens-to-be alike. Even its less hip younger sister, Miss Teen Canada, was unceremoniously trashed in 1990. What could there be, if no more Miss Canada?
The answer to this question is not so simple. The Miss Canadian Universe Pageant began in Edmonton in 1993, our best hope for continuing the legacy of a national pageant, despite having entries primarily from Alberta until 1998. The contest has since expanded to include regional winners from coast to coast, and is a first-rate, well-run production, though certainly not television material.
The Miss Canada International contest, which has dethroned two of its winners in its six years — including Danielle House, the Newfoundland beauty who sucker-punched another woman in a bar in 1996 and later posed for Playboy — has grown to obtain Canada’s Miss World franchise, even though almost all its entries come via the Internet. To its credit, you can’t beat Miss Canada International for charity involvement. You name it, the winner has likely been there, even if she had to worm her way in out of the cold to lend a hand.
Other pageants have come and quickly gone without so much as a blip on the pageant radar.
For those of East Indian, Asian and Caribbean decent, high-profile pageants continue to prosper in the Chinese, Indian, Guyanese and Filipino communities of Canada’s large cities. None of these contests has been broadcast on anything except community cable, and press coverage has been negligible to non-existent, but an unbreakable spirit is still present, as trite as that may sound.
No matter what generation we live in, or how feminist or anti-pageant a society we may be a part of, some young girls will always aspire to grow up and become beauty queens. Canada has the outlets to serve them, as confusing and unknown as these may be, and a rich tapestry of history, as ludicrous and fascinating as it may be.
