Community-leader, law student selected as delegate for Miss Indigenous Canada

Kiauna Cote wants to challenge and broaden the conventional standards of beauty.

A law student at the University of Saskatchewan, member of Ochapowace First Nation, tireless coach and community advocate, and delegate for Miss Indigenous Canada, Cote isn’t wasting time worrying if she’s checking any of the traditional boxes. She’s too busy making an impact on her community.

“My classmates in law always make fun of me for being so busy,” said Cote.

“It’s something engrained in my family. They’re leaders, Chiefs, movers and shakers. My family has always been committed to giving back, making their community better.”

The granddaughter of the late Tony Cote, the first elected Chief of the Cote First Nations and the founder of the Saskatchewan First Nations Winter and Summer Games, Kiauna Cote has trailblazing in her blood. But beauty pageants are territory she’s exploring for the first time.

“I always wanted to do it. Not because I think of myself as a ‘beauty queen’, it’s not about this Western idea of what beauty is,” said Cote.

“It’s about what makes our Indigenous women beautiful – our culture, our connection to community, our leadership, our resilience.”

The application to the Miss Indigenous Canada program is quite different from the typical pageant. Applicants are not asked to submit any photos of themselves. Instead, they must write a personal essay on what the title of Miss Indigenous Canada means to them; they must create a community scrapbook highlighting their community involvements; they must verify their status and include a community reference; and before a shortlist is made, they go through an interview process.

Out of over 100 applicants across Canada, Cote was chosen as one of the 20 Miss Indigenous Canada delegates.

“It’s about being a community leader and change-maker,” she said. “I’m so humbled to be part of this group. It’s really taking control of what we think beauty is.”

But shortly before the application was due, Cote and her family experienced a profound tragedy. Cote lost a sibling to suicide on New Year’s Eve. She said her and her family were overridden with grief, and the application to enter the pageant, due a couple months after her loss, was submitted somewhat apathetically, she said.

“When I found out I was selected, I started screaming, jumping up and down with my family. It was something for us to be excited about,” said Cote.

This tragic loss was unfortunately the second sibling that Cote had lost to suicide. Resilience through profound loss is part of the message Cote plans on sharing as part of her Miss Indigenous Canada journey.

“I want to let people know not to give up, as cliche as that sounds. We have a light within ourselves to keep going,” she said.