Miss Universe Canada contestants slammed for cultural appropriation over Indigenous pageant costumes

Two Miss Universe Canada contestants who wore Indigenous-inspired outfits during the pageant were slammed over “cultural appropriation” by an Indigenous former winner.Karisa Haverkamp and Jasleen Kaily donned the outfits during the national costume portion of the competition in Windsor, Ontario, on Aug.4, according to APTN News.Haverkamp wore a feathered headdress traditionally associated with respected Indigenous leaders in North America, along with a red handprint painted on her face, a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement.Kaily wore a costume called “Arctic Beauty,” featuring an all-fur dress, fur boots known as mukluks and two braids.Former Miss Universe Canada winner Ashley Callingbull, who was the first Indigenous woman to win the title in 2024 and represented the country at the Miss Universe pageant, interrupted her co-host, pageant director Sonny Borrelli, to address the issue while co-hosting the show’s final Saturday.“Sometimes there are mistakes that are made.

It’s 2026.We should know better,” she said on stage, according to CBC Indigenous.“But most importantly, a part of reconciliation is that we educate and learn and understand and move on from these things in a good way,” she added.Callingbull, a Plains Cree woman from the Enoch Cree Nation, admitted that she was shocked when she saw the costumes.“This cannot be real.

I just couldn’t get over that this was happening,” she told the outlet.“Who allowed this on stage? Who approved this?“Anything traditional or sacred should not be allowed.

I was very, very upset.”Callingbull, the first Indigenous First Nations woman to grace the pages of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in 2022, contacted pageant organizers to voice her anger.“I felt like I was educating them and giving them hell at the same time because I needed them to understand how bad this was, and how much this affects other people,” Callingbull told APTN News Friday.“I�...