Miss Canada Titleholders

Miss Canada began in 1946 as a celebration of Hamilton, Ontario's centennial. Starting in 1947 until 1962, Miss Canada was a preliminary to the Miss America pageant. The first television broadcast of the pageant was in 1963.

Betweeen 1961 and 1971, 5 finalists were chosen. In 1972 and 1973, they chose 10 semi-finalists then 5 finalists. In the 1974 until 1992 pageants, 8 semi-finalists then four finalists were chosen (except for 1983, when they chose 10 semi-finalists and 4 finalists). The winner of the Miss Canada pageant first attended Miss Universe in 1979.

In the early days of Miss Canada, delegates competed without city designation. By 1948, several preliminaries had been set up in all parts of Canada, but virtually all of them were held erratically: in 1952 for example, all of the pageant's entrants were from Ontario. However, by 1960, all of the contestants held individual titles which they had won in a preliminary competition, a tradition which continued until the last pageant, Miss Canada 1992.

Between 1960 and 1977, it was Miss Dominion of Canada, a small pageant about which little is known, who represented Canada at Miss Universe, but in 1978, Miss Canada's first runner-up (Andrea Eng of Vancouver, British Columbia) went to Miss Universe.

The Miss Canada Pageant was discontinued as of January 5, 1992, citing economic difficulties as its principal reason for closing this Canadian tradition.

The cities listed are cities represented in pageant. Delegates did not represent entire provinces or territories, in most cases.

For those of you unfamililar with Canadian geography, Canada has ten provinces and three territories: Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador (not a province until 1949), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan; Northwest Territories, Nunavut (not a territory until 1999) and the Yukon Territory.

Click on each photo for an enlarged version!

Miss Canada

1949: Margaret Lynn Munn—Toronto, Ontario
2. Joan Durrell—Toronto, Ontario
3. Arlene Markell—Toronto, Ontario
SEMI-FINALISTS:
Bette Catherine Kane—Halifax, Nova Scotia
Betty Brown—Mimico, Ontario
Laureen Mae Marcenko—Ottawa, Ontario
Elizabeth Lyons—Toronto, Ontario
Dorothy van Sickler—Toronto, Ontario
Joan McPherson—Vancouver, British Columbia
Gloria Gray—Winnipeg, Manitoba

Following the 1959 pageant, each entrant held a local title or was sponsored by a local committee prior to competing in the Miss Canada Pageant. All remaining cities listed are the contestants' titles, rather than their hometowns.

1962: Connie Gail Feller—Ottawa, Ontario
dethroned; title given to
Helena Marie (Nina) Holden—Victoria, British Columbia
3. Sylvia Wilson—Miss Toronto "O", Ontario
4. Claudette Tousignant—Central Toronto, Ontario
5. Anne-Marie Perron—Dorval Gardens, Québec

1965: Linda Douma—Sidney, British Columbia
2. Joan Clarkin—Montréal, Québec
3. Kari Jonassen—Calgary, Alberta
4. Carol Shellington—Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
5. Sherrill Thompson—Vancouver, British Columbia

1966: Diane Landry—Manitoba
2. Harriet Hedley—London, Ontario
3. Judy Andrews—St. John's, Newfoundland
4. Nicole Lessard—Québec City, Québec
5. Margaret MacInnis—Nova Scotia

1967: Barbara Kelly—Vancouver, British Columbia
2. Susan Cousens—Muskoka & Vacation Land, Ontario
3. Joanne Holm—Winnipeg, Manitoba
4. Heather Spear—Ottawa, Ontario
5. Dayle Haddon—Montréal, Québec