Lethbridge model and philanthropist Jaime VandenBerg crowned Miss Universe Canada

Edmonton Journal

a day ago

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On Saturday, the five finalists of Miss Universe Canada gave a minute-long speech during a gala in Windsor, Ont.
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The contestants could talk about anything they wanted. So Lethbridge's Jaime VandenBerg chose a heavy topic, albeit one that is close to her heart. She spoke about gender-based violence. It was part sobering reality and part motivational speech.
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'I used the time to talk about how every 11 minutes a woman dies due to gender-based violence, but we can be the generation of change,' says VandenBerg, repeating part of the speech in a phone interview with Postmedia. 'Every moment and every second we are here is an opportunity to make change, go after your dreams and accomplish anything that you've ever wanted to.'
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'When I spoke about surviving gun violence, the entire audience went quiet,' she says. 'It was insane to be able to speak to thousands of people like that. To silence a room of that many people was absolutely wild.'
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Later in the evening, VandenBerg was declared Miss Universe Canada, which means she will represent the country in November at the Miss Universe Pageant in Thailand.
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The win came after more than a week of competition that pitted the international model and philanthropist against 70 delegates from across Canada. That included Calgary's Elise Featherstone, who was once a contestant on the American reality series Naked and Afraid; entrepreneur Kirsten Andresen, who recently earned a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary; Sarah Lambros, a seismic processor and former Calgary Stampede Princess; and Sonia Saxon, an entrepreneur and engineer.
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The delegates were put through various competitions since Aug. 1, including traditional judged components based on evening gowns and swimwear and a 'best-body' competition, which caused a bit of an uproar on social media as some deemed it to be a severely outdated category.
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But the delegates also had to prepare a humanitarian report, which was worth 25 per cent of their score, based on each delegate's fundraising for the Canadian Mental Health Association.