Ashley Callingbull isn't the next Miss Universe. Still, she was 'honoured' as the first Indigenous woman to represent Canada

When I sat down with Miss Universe Canada winner Ashley Callingbull earlier this year, she was still coming down off the high from having won the title. On July 27, the 35-year-old model, actress and activist became the first Indigenous woman to take home the crown.

“It’s still so surreal,” she had said, shaking her head in amazement. “I’m still soaking it all in.”

Callingbull was a vision before me: Not only was she a physically striking woman but she sported the Miss Universe Canada crown and wore a beautiful geometric-patterned and multicoloured traditional Indigenous dress by designer Kayla Lookinghorse. The look was a gift and aptly named "the Ashley Dress."

I commented on how dazzling she looked. “Oh, you know, I was just doing the dishes,” she quipped and bursted out laughing. Jokes aside, she can wear the crown whenever she wants. She’s earned it — and then some.

“It took so long just to have an Indigenous representative from Canada represent Canada. The First Peoples of this country have never represented Canada at a Miss Universe pageant before,” she said. “I know there’s a lot of pressure and responsibility that comes with that but I’m so honoured and so proud.”

Callingbull competed at the 73rd Miss Universe pageant on Saturday night, held in Mexico City at Arena CDMX. She made it to the top 12, standing on stage amongst contestants from countries like Thailand, Chile, Argentina, Russia and Nigeria. However, it was Denmark’s Victoria Kjær Theilvig — a 21-year-old dancer, entrepreneur and aspiring lawyer — who came out on top to win the title this year.

Aside from becoming the first Indigenous woman to win the title in Canada, Callingbull is the first woman above the age of 28 to take home the crown. In 2023, the Miss Universe organization removed its age limit for contestants to apply; the year prior, it altered its rules to allow mothers and married women to compete.

“I’m glad the rules are finally changing because there shouldn’t be an age limit on when we should be able to achieve our dreams or goals,” she said. "I’m not the same person I was when I was 20 years old. I feel like I’ve grown into the woman I was meant to be and I have a completely different mentality walking into this because I know myself so much better.”

Callingbull has a host of credits to her name: She’s a motivational speaker, a model, an actress and a television host. She also participated in and finished in second place on the fourth season of Amazing Race Canada with her stepfather. In May 2022, she became the first Indigenous woman to be featured in a Sports Illustrated issue. She also received The Role Model Award from the United Nations in 2015 and was named a Top 10 Power Woman.

‘I had to grow up really fast’

While Callingbull felt on top of the world after her Miss Universe Canada win, her childhood was a far cry from the life she’s living now.

When she was five years old, Callingbull and her mother moved away from her grandparents’ home in Enoch Cree Nation, a reserve about 30 minutes southwest of Edmonton. “I didn’t have a normal childhood and I had to grow up really fast,” she siad. “I lived through poverty and abuse for years so how I grew up was pretty rough. I picked bottles for food.”

After escaping domestic abuse, they went back to Callingbull’s grandparents. Her kôhkom (grandmother in Cree) and her mooshum (grandfather) were a medicine man and medicine woman who ran sweat lodges and held ceremonies. “They were very traditional and spiritual people,” she said.

At age 12, Callingbull had had to go to court and publicly voice everything that had happened to her at the hands of her abuser, her mother’s ex-boyfriend. “The first time I ever spoke out loud was in a courtroom in front of my abuser saying every detail of what happened while he laughed at me,” she recalled. “So that experience really shattered me. It made me feel less than I was. I really didn’t love myself.”

The judge in the case instructed Callingbull to see a therapist — but none of the therapy worked. “I just kept freaking out, asking how to let go, move forward and be happy. They weren’t giving me any answers so I was taking all the anger out in unhealthy ways.”

The path to healing

Callingbull’s kôhkom advised her that her healing would come from her cultural roots, through prayer and walking The Red Road.

“For us as Indigenous people, walking The Red Road means staying away from drugs and alcohol because in our way, we believe the more you put those kinds of toxins into your body, the more you become disconnected from your spirit. That’s when you get lost," she explained.

Callingbull’s grandparents — who are residential school survivors — had found their medicinal work to be healing from their own personal and intergenerational trauma. “They turned their lives around and I wanted to walk that same path.”

Callingbull said having her culture and a safe space where she could be herself and connect with her values and traditional beliefs saved her life. “If I didn’t have that, I probably would have turned to drugs and alcohol because I was thinking about it already. I would have become a stereotype.”

Callingbull also credited her mother as crucial to her success. “My mom made a lot of sacrifices in order for us to survive and thrive. There were times where she would count the food like, ‘Ashley can have three pierogies’ and she herself wouldn’t eat. Even when I wanted to dance ballet, we couldn’t afford it, so my mom was able to get me into one class and my things were from the lost and found,’’ she said. “So many people left such good stuff in there! I thought they were treasures.”

Those times taught her to believe in herself, and pageants offered the hope for a better life. “I felt like I always wanted to be a queen in some way in my community,” she shared with a laugh.

A princess to a queen

Callingbull began participating in pageants on her reserve, where she won titles like “Tiny Tot Princess of Enoch Cree Nation,” “Junior Princess” and “Senior Princess.”

“It’s not a beauty pageant, it’s a traditional pageant for our community. We dance in our traditional regalia and we give back to the community,” she said.

Callingbull would watch the Miss Universe pageant on television and marvel at many of the young women’s personal stories, many of them similar to her own. However, she could never imagine the amount of racism she would face on the road to fulfilling her dream.

“It was next-level for me. I had never experienced anything like it before. I didn’t know how cutthroat it was going to be," she said.

“[People would say], ‘A native woman? What? You think you can do pageants? You don’t even have the “pageant” look,’” she recalled. Her response was always the same: “‘Well, I want to try. Why not me?’”

Callingbull also found herself at a significant disadvantage when it came to any kind of sponsorship or funding. Without coaches or guidance, she found ways to raise money and was even having garage sales and selling her own personal belongings to be able to afford to go. “That’s how badly I wanted to be there.”

Her Miss Universe dreams were almost dashed when Callingbull aged out of eligibility for Miss Universe Canada. “The dream wasn’t there anymore.”

Still, she thought of a way to stay connected even if she couldn’t compete. Callingbull volunteered her time and mentored and coached different Indigenous girls in the pageant industry whether it was in the Canadian system or in the American system. She helped them get sponsors, guided them through Q&As as well as runways.

“I found that so rewarding because I didn’t have anyone who had done that for me,” she said. “If I had had someone do that for me, who knows how far I could have gone or where I could have been now. But I just wanted them to feel good and be in a safe space as though they had a sister there.”

A reawakened dream

Callingbull still remembers the moment she learned Miss Universe was foregoing its age limit. “My heart started racing when I heard that,” she said. “I thought, is it possible for me? Is it possible that I can make it happen? Oh my God, it’s not over.”

Once the opportunity came to compete, Callingbull jumped on it, and she trained hard ever since. “When the day of the finals came, I felt like all the hard work had finally paid off,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it. I had put my heart and soul into this.”

During the pageant, she channelled the obstacles she has faced during childhood into advocacy for Indigenous women.

“I thought, ‘This is my opportunity to speak on something that not only have I lived through but it’s something that is happening to us right now.’ I thought, ‘I have to bring attention to this as much as possible because if not now when?’”

Before Saturday night’s competition, Callingbull said she’d use her platform as Miss Universe to help Indigenous women on a much larger scale.

“I feel like they would finally be able to hear us — not just Canada — because that is already hard enough. But if I can make the whole world hear what we’re going through — not just Indigenous women in Canada, but Indigenous women all over the world. That, to me, would be impactful because it would be about speaking for those of us who are silenced,” she said.

This is especially true for the myriad of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

“I’ve had relatives who have gone missing and who haven’t come home,” she said. “I won’t even go anywhere by myself because of fear that someone could just take me and that no one will care. I always get eyes and feel like I’m always being watched. Why are our lives less valuable than other women?”

Callingbull is also adamant that the world should see Indigenous women for the forces of nature that they are.

“I want people to know that Indigenous women are still here and that we are thriving. There is so much success to speak of and that needs to be highlighted. Why has it taken so long to recognize our talents? We’ve been here all along.”

Callingbull wants to make one thing clear: She’s not a token. “That’s why I use my voice. I’m not just an image. That’s one thing people won’t do: They won’t shut me up. I will always speak the truth because the truth is our power.”

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