Miss Universe Canada
Miss Universe Canada, officially The Beauties of Canada, is a yearly national beauty pageant in Toronto that selects Canada’s representative to Miss Universe and other international competitions. The Beauties of Canada Organization won the rights to send a Canadian to Miss Universe in 2002, and the pageant began in 2003. The organization is led by National Director Sonny Borrelli and president Denis Dávila.
Canada’s Miss Universe winners have included Leanne Marie Cecile (Top 10 at Miss Universe 2003) and Natalie Glebova (Miss Universe 2005). Alice Panikian finished in the Top 10 in 2006. As of 2022, Canada, like France, has sent a delegate to every Miss Universe edition; Germany stopped in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Notable moments include 2010, when Yemeni-origin contestant Maria Al-Masani drew attention for requests related to her religious beliefs; and 2012, when Jenna Talackova was briefly disqualified for not being “naturally born female” before being allowed to compete. In 2013, Denise Garrido was mistakenly announced as the winner due to a scoring error; the actual winner was Riza Santos.
The 2021 Miss Universe Canada pageant was canceled because of the pandemic, so the titles were awarded to runners-up: Tamara Jemuovic became Miss Universe Canada 2021, while Jaime VandenBerg was named Miss International Canada 2021, though the Miss International pageants for 2020 and 2021 were canceled.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 15:33 (CET).