What is the Search for Miss World Canada?

On Stage – 2013 Miss World, Megan Young with Runner Ups France, and Ghana

Miss World Canada is a quest for excellence, eloquence and classic style as symbolized by a silver crown.

The reigning Miss World Canada is the young woman every teen girl dreams of becoming…

The Search for Miss World Canada is Canada’s oldest and most respected beauty pageant.

Held annually this event has had several different names since 1957; the program has always been used to select Canada’s representative to the Miss World contest.

In 2017, MTC-W Inc lead by Executive Director and Former Miss World Canada 1996, Michelle Weswaldi, obtained the exclusive rights to send the Canadian representative to Miss World.

Canada’s annual pageant will now be hosted each summer in Toronto, Ontario. A week of preparation precedes the Grand Finale held on a hot Saturday night in July. The ‘MWC Experience Week’ is filled with sightseeing, shopping and fashion modeling, and many hours of dance practice and show prep.

Miss World Canada – Grand Finale is the culmination of a regional pageant cycle whereby representatives of this organization seek out participants in each province. Its from an assembly of over one hundred Regional Delegates that a body of no-more than sixty-five National Finalists are selected and invited to participate in the spectacle that is the Miss World Canada pageant grand finale in Toronto. This is a huge spotlight for the participants as the show is simulcast on the web to a global audience and recorded for posterity as part of Canada’s history. It’s a fantastic way for a young person to introduce themselves to the world.

MTC-W Inc. also produces Miss Teenage Canada www.missteenagecanada.com and Top Model Search Canada www.topmodelsearchcanada.com and now as you can imagine this team is very well connected in the Canadian fashion industry as so many finalists have been ‘discovered’ and gone on to have successful modeling careers.

The Future of Beauty Pageants in Canada

The future of the beauty pageant is brighter than you might believe despite changing attitudes about body shapes and women’s roles in society. The annual Search for Miss World Canada does not objectify women but rather it empowers these young people to be highly effective communicators and find their own true style – to be beautiful inside and out. They do good deeds for charity and enact platforms for change. Delegates from each region become champions of their own area’s plight – flood relief in Winnipeg, and wild fire relief for Fort McMurry. The competition is clean and wholesome and really does show some of the best facets of the Canadian Tween experience.

The History of the Miss World Canada Pageant

How close we’ve come…

In the entire history of the Miss World pageant no Canadian delegate has ever secured the top title, but we sure have come close over the years…

1960 Danica d’Hondt from Vancouver, British Columbia placed in the Top 6

1965 Carol Ann Tidey from Hamilton, Ontario placed in the Top 6

1984 Connie Fitzpatrick from Hamilton, Ontario was the 1st Runner-up

1989 Leanne Caputo from Milton, Ontario was the 1st Runner-up & Queen of the Americas

2003 Nazanin Afshin-Jam from Vancouver was 1st Runner-up, Queen of the Americas & Miss World Sport

2009 Lena Ma from North York, Ontario was voted 4th Runner-up & Miss World Talent

Check this old video to see how beauty pageants used to be runway exhibitions that limited women as much as promoted their beauty..

Judy Welch of Toronto Ontario at Miss World – 1957

Below is the Pathe – News of the World – newsreel footage showing the 1957 Miss World pageant and half way through the clip you can glimpse Judy Welch of Toronto Ontario, our very first Miss World Canada here representing the nation.

Looking at this old footage its easy to see how things have changed with regards to modern beauty pageants; Today we celebrate dance, digital style and the cultural diversity of each delegate while measuring communication skills and confidence as we contemplate each young woman’s potential impact on our society, not so much as a beauty queen but as a beautiful person charged with a mandate to help all humanity.