2016 Miss Indian World Contestant hopes to bring the title home to Canada
- Tiffany Head | April 07, 2016
What an honour it would be to travel the world teaching people the diversity of Native American culture.
That is exactly what winning the Miss Indian World (MIW) pageant can do for the crowned MIW as contestants compete in a 5-day exciting experience.
The 2016 Miss Indian World Competition will be held during the week of April 26-30, 2016 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
Twenty-four year old Emery-Rose Assiniboine of Long Plain First Nation, Manitoba and the Neekaneet Cree Nation, Saskatchewan is a contestant in the pageant and will be representing her communities.
“I want to continue to travel to many different communities/powwows across Manitoba and the rest of Canada and the USA, to share my title in hopes of being a role-model for youth from different Indigenous communities,” says Assiniboine in her hopes of winning the title.
Assiniboine says that the MIW pageant celebrates strong culturally knowledgeable young women who are committed and willing to represent Indigenous Nations as a goodwill ambassador.
When she applied to be a contestant, she had to write an essay and get two reference letters. She also had to sell raffle tickets.
“We had to sell a minimum of 500 raffle tickets to even be considered as a contestant,” says Assiniboine.
She has already close to selling 5000 tickets and still going.
Each MIW contestant will compete in the areas of public speaking, personal interview, traditional talent presentation, dance and essay. Each category will be based on the contestants own cultural knowledge.
“We are judged throughout the pageant to see how we represent ourselves and to see how we do in each category,” said Assiniboine.
She has danced since she could walk and to her the people in the pow wow tour feels like a family.
“It’s meeting people and creating those connections, that’s one of the reasons why I love to dance, I love seeing the familiar faces here and there,” said Assiniboine in how she developed her strong sense of culture.
The last time a Canadian was crowned Miss Indian World was in 2010 when Dakota Brant from Six Nations of the Grand River territory won.
The crowning of the 2016 Miss Indian world princess will be on Saturday, April 30th at 7:30 pm.
The new MIW will spend her year travelling the USA, Canada and internationally, promoting cultural awareness and diversity.