Lethbridge model and philanthropist Jaime VandenBerg crowned Miss Universe Canada
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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She also recounted a harrowing moment in 2021 when she was shot at by a stranger in the street, narrowly avoiding death.
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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and a 'best-body' competition, which caused a bit of an uproar on social media as some deemed it to be a severely outdated category.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.
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Philanthropy has already been a big part of VandenBerg's life. The 28-year-old grew up in Coaldale before attending the University of Lethbridge and studying philosophy. She served as a crisis support worker in the Victim Services Unit at the Lethbridge Police Station, where she assisted with domestic violence cases.
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She took the Law School Admission Test, intending to become a lawyer, but instead became a model. She signed with Calgary's Mode Models four years ago and has modelled around the globe.
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In 2022, she received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her philanthropy, which included a project called Pico for a Purpose. While living in Mexico City, she summited the highest mountain in the country, Pico de Orizaba, and raised $3,000 for the Lethbridge YWCA and a women's shelter in Mexico City.
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She took up mountain climbing as a form of therapy to help overcome the 2021 incident. VandenBerg was on a modelling gig when it happened. She does not want to reveal what country she was in, except to say it wasn't Canada. But it could have been, she says. Gender-based violence was a 'silent endemic during the pandemic' in Canada, skyrocketing by 40 per cent.
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'It's definitely not something Canada is above, and that's normally why I leave out where it happens because it doesn't make a difference, it happens here, too,' she says.
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VandenBerg said she was followed from her agency in the middle of the day and was held at gunpoint by a man.
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'He grabbed my bag and I thought I was being robbed,' she says. 'My heart broke when I realized I wasn't being robbed, when he grabbed my shoulder and I realized, 'Oh, I'm being taken.' It was like everyone's worst nightmare sinking in.''
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VandenBerg figured she was being kidnapped and said she had to decide between 'a short death or a long death.' Just as she pulled away, another man grabbed the assailant from behind as he shot, and the bullet narrowly missed her. The harrowing story has become part of VandenBerg's public profile. It is even detailed in her bio on the Miss Universe Canada website.
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'Miss Universe Canada and Miss Universe and pageants in general are some of the largest women's empowerment platforms in the world,' she says. 'Everybody who is trying to compete, everybody who wants to become Miss Universe and pretty much any other titles for that matter, has to have a cause, a charity they support and philanthropy they are doing. At the same time, you are surrounded by some of the most accomplished women across our country. So it is a very inspirational and motivational experience that truly is focused on women's empowerment and self-betterment.'
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