Ode to Miss Canada-Universe

One of the most interesting things about the history of Miss Canada is that it was handled by three different organizations thus far. The first was Miss Dominion of Canada, which sent its winners to compete in the Miss Universe Pageant from 1960 to 1978. The second was an actual Miss Canada Pageant, which was originally a scholarship contest for young women before it became the pageant that determines which young Canadian woman would be representing Canada in the Miss Universe Pageant (this was in 1979). The Miss Canada Pageant winner went on to become the Miss Universe representative of Canada up until 1992, when the Miss Canada Pageant was finally shut down because it cost far too much money than it was making. Still, because Canada needed a means to find the next Miss Canada for the Miss Universe Pageant, the Miss Universe-Canada Pageant was born. The Miss Universe-Canada Pageant has been run by the Miss Universe Canada Organization since 2003; this in turn is supported by "The Beauties of Canada" Organization, which was first instituted in 2002.

That even said, perhaps what should be reflected on instead is the interesting fact that since taking over in 2003, the Miss Universe Canada Organization has picked a Miss Canada-Universe that has, for all intents and purposes, a hint of ethnicity in their heritage. Miss Canada 2003 (Leanne Marie Cecile) wasn't so bad, of course - she was of French background. But then there was Venessa Fisher who was of British heritage, then two young ladies of Russian heritage (Natalie Glebova, 2005 and Inga Skaya 2007). There was one of Bulgarian heritage (Alice Panikian, 2006), one of Iranian heritage (Samantha Tajik, 2008), and the latest, Mariana Valente, is of Brazilian heritage. It seems that much of Canada's concept of beauty is now rooted on racial diversity - and isn't that something that's wonderful? What better way to prove one's understanding of the concept of a Miss Universe than to choose representatives that represent more than one ethnicity?

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You can view more information at Miss Canada.