Miss Canada is a beauty pageant for young women in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It was founded in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

in 1946. No title was awarded from 1993 through 2008. The trademark was purchased in 2009 by a Québec organization who produces the pageant under the name to this day. According to the new Miss Canada and Miss Teen Canada web site, the title was re-established with a focus on personality over physical appearance. The Miss Canada competition is Canada's oldest extant

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

. Winnifred Blair of

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of K ...

was proclaimed the first "Miss Canada" on 11 February 1923 at an earlier, unrelated competition during the Montreal Winter Carnival. The runner-up in that event was Muriel Harper of

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

. The first broadcast of the Miss Canada pageant aired on November 10, 1963 on CTV with news anchors

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-born American television journalist who served as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 2005. He dropped o ...

and

Baden Langton Baden Langton was one of several early co-anchors of ''CTV National News'', and worked with anchor Peter Jennings. Langton began in radio with CKPC in Brantford, Ontario before moving to stations in Hamilton and Ottawa where he moved into televis ...

hosting. Gordon MacRae was hired to sing the first Miss Canada Pageant song. Each of the 23 contestants was escorted by a young officer of the Canadian Armed Forces. Carol Ann Balmer of Toronto won, and Lise Mercier of Quebec City was Miss Congeniality. The escorts were selected and supervised by a young Armoured Corps Officer, J. R. Digger MacDougall, who escorted the runner up, Lise Mercier. Jennings remained as solo host until 1966 and was replaced by game show host

Jim Perry James Perry may refer to: * James Perry (journalist) (1756–1821), journalist * James Franklin Perry (1790–1853), early Texas settler (with wife Emily Austin Perry) * Jimmy Perry (1923–2016), English actor and scriptwriter * James E. C. Perr ...

, who hosted the pageant until 1990. Dominique Dufour, the winner of the Miss Canada Pageant in 1981, co-hosted with Perry from 1982 until 1990. The final pageant before its initial cancellation aired in late 1991 and was hosted by Peter Feniak and Liz Grogan. The show was popular in the 1970s, with up to 5 million viewers, but declined in the 1980s, until it was cancelled in 1992. Producers of the show cited mounting production costs, as the reason for cancellation. The last winner was Miss Canada 1992 Nicole Dunsdon from

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Between 1947 and 1962, the Miss Canada Pageant sent delegates to the Miss America pageant. No Miss Canada ever won Miss America but some placed. The Miss Canada Pageant obtained the franchise for the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

Pageant in 1978, when that year's first runner-up, Andrea Leslie Eng, competed internationally. From 1979 to the final 1992 contest before cancellation, the winners of Miss Canada went on to compete. Miss Canada 1982, Karen Baldwin, is the only Miss Canada to also win Miss Universe. Since 2003, Canada's representative to Miss Universe has been chosen by the

Miss Universe Canada The Miss Universe Canada or "The Beauties of Canada" is a national beauty pageant in Canada, which sends its winners to the Miss Universe pageant. The Beauties of Canada Organization gained the exclusive rights to send a Canadian representativ ...

pageant.

Winners

The following is a list of winners:"Miss Canada&Miss Teen Canada:MissCanada-Pasttitleholders"
. * Connie-Gail Feller won the Miss Canada 1962 title and competed at Miss America, however was dethroned on 20 September 1961.

Miss Canada at International Pageants

Miss Canada at Miss Universe

Miss Canada at Miss America

Hosts

Jaclyn Miles, a former Miss Canada: 2016-2019 Jim Perry: 1967-1991 Peter Jennings: 1963-1966

References

External links

British Pathe newsreel of Miss Canada 1948
* https://web.archive.org/web/20150924102501/http://www.pageantopolis.com/international/canada_1970s.htm * https://web.archive.org/web/20110831093051/http://www.pageantopolis.com/international/canada_1980s.htm {{Miss America state

Beauty pageants in Canada 1945 establishments in Ontario Canadian awards Recurring events established in 1945