Beauty pageants are held in Aboriginal communities across the country and beyond. The words “beauty pageant” might not always be what the event is called but a female winner is none-the-less “crowned” at the end. Each community has its own set of standards, principles and criteria. But almost all of them have this in common: It’s not just about physical looks. Traditional dance offs, competitive crafts, knowledge of culture and language and even tribal skills competitions are all categories that can determine who will win the event’s title. Let’s take a look at a few past and current Indigenous beauty pageants in Canada as well as a glance at other Indigenous pageants around the world. How do these pageants affect the winners, the losers and the people in the community? Some view the pageants as a tool to boost self-esteem or even help promote culture and keep tradition alive.

Standards of beauty – now, there’s a truly subjective issue! While it’s an easy enough task today to consult fashion archives from recent years, the challenge becomes far more complex to try and chart as elusive a topic as shifting concepts of beauty among indigenous peoples, especially as they applied to a distant past when oral tradition was the primary form of history. Add to that the need to approach such an elusive subject with numerous different Aboriginal nations, each with its own, often-complex history, customs, tradition – and therefore, inevitably, standards of beauty. It’s a safe bet that some grey areas may well remain, even under the most arduous scrutiny. Yet, these quibbles aside, the subject remains an interesting one which undoubtedly deserves attention, if only to debunk some myths that have lingered on for far too long! Keywords: race, indigenous, ethnicity.