{"id":853421,"date":"2026-08-13T05:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T05:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853421\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T05:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T05:38:15","slug":"miss-universe-canada-national-costume-contestants-apologise-for-wearing-indigenous-outfits-cultural-appropriation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853421\/","title":{"rendered":"Miss Universe Canada national costume: Contestants apologise for wearing Indigenous outfits, cultural appropriation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two Miss Universe<\/a> Canada contestants have apologised after wearing Indigenous-style outfits during the pageant, attracting criticisms of cultural appropriation<\/a>. <\/p>\n

During the national costume segment on August 4, Karisa Haverkamp wore a feathered headdress and a painted red hand on her face \u2013 a symbol of solidarity with the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement \u2013 while Jasleen Kaily wore a fur dress and boots.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two Miss Universe Canada contestants have apologised after wearing Indigenous-style outfits during the event.\u00a0YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201cIf any costume caused offence, hurt, or misunderstanding, please know that it was never our intention,\u201d the pageant said in a statement, while both contestants issued their own apologies.<\/p>\n

Miss Universe<\/a> Canada 2024 Ashley Callingbull, a Plains Cree woman who became the pageant\u2019s first First Nations winner, said costumes represented \u201ccultural appropriation … done toward Indigenous people\u201d.<\/p>\n

Speaking to audience members during her hosting duties at the event, she said \u201cmistakes were made\u201d and in 2026, \u201cwe should know better\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Miss<\/p>\n

Former winner Ashley Callingbull labelled the outfits \u201ccultural appropriation … done toward Indigenous people\u201d.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

She later told CBS Indigeous<\/a> her \u201cjaw dropped on the floor\u201d when she saw the outfits in a video of the national costume showcase. <\/p>\n

\u201cI just couldn\u2019t get over that this was happening. Who allowed this on stage? Who approved this?\u201d Callingbull, who had been co-presenting another section of the pageant, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything traditional or sacred should not be allowed. I was very, very upset.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a statement shared via Instagram, Haverkamp acknowledged her outfit \u201ccaused hurt and offence to people in the Indigenous community\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Karisa Haverkamp\u2019s outfit included a feathered headdress, which are traditionally worn by respected Indigenous leaders.\u00a0YouTube<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate what I have learned from this experience and continue my commitment to stand up and speak for all women who have lost their voice because of violence, trauma and oppression,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Kaily also addressed the controversy around her \u2018Arctic Beauty\u2019 costume via Instagram, telling her followers, \u201cMy intention was never to disrespect or misrepresent Indigenous culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to CBS, she apologised and admitted she didn\u2019t understand the concept behind the costume competition round, and had intended to \u201ccelebrate one of the First Peoples of Canada\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t something I did intentionally, it\u2019s something that I thought was appreciation, but I understand some Indigenous communities just want to represent themselves through their own communities,\u201d Kaily added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two Miss Universe Canada contestants have apologised after wearing Indigenous-style outfits during the pageant, attracting criticisms of cultural…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-853421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}