Aurora Ominika-Enosse and Shaylin Allison, two women from northeastern Ontario, will soon be taking the stage to compete for the title of Miss Indigenous Canada. The program was established in 2024 and focuses on cultural resurgence, community leadership and emphasizes the empowerment of Indigenous youth. “It’s very holistic and wholesome,” said Ominika-Enosse. “You know, it’s about coming together. Youth empowerment, leadership development. And I feel like I just really value that approach that they’re taking.” Ominika-Enosse said there were a number of reasons why she applied. “A big part of why I’m doing the program is kind of for little Aurora and the role model that I would have needed growing up,” she said. “I think about what she would have needed. And I think that doing this program (is) a very healing experience. It’s kind of like I’m healing my inner child.” Ominika-Enosse grew up in Sudbury until she was 13, before moving back to her home of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory. “Moving back home to the community and like learning culture, learning traditions like that meant a lot to me,” she said. Felt disconnected “I felt growing up that I had a lot of disconnection from my identity. I don’t think I really understood as a young girl what it meant to be Indigenous until I moved home and kind of got that experience.” Ominika-Enosse now lives in Ottawa after graduating from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Social Work and currently works with Indigenous youth. “I feel like it’s really full circle for me because I get to work with urban Indigenous youth from across Canada,” she said. “I get to help plan an urban, a national youth forum that connects urban Indigenous youth together again from all across Canada.” Hails from Garden River First Nation For her part, Allison, who hails from Garden River First Nation, applied to the program to break out of her comfort zone. “I’ve been really trying to challenge myself and do one thing a month that is really outside of my comfort zone and really scares me,” she said. “So I applied and I was like, well, it we’ll see if I hear anything about this.” Allison said that she believes there is a lot of value in the program. “Something that really attracted me to the program was that it’s not like a pageant in that way,” she said. “I think for Indigenous people, especially women or like female-presenting people, to be able to take these opportunities to get professional development, learning, networking experience, that’s really huge.” Allison has a master’s degree in art history from the University of Victoria. Currently, she works on the Indigenous team at Kids Help Phone. Growing up with low self-esteem, she said mental health and wellness are important to her. “Being Ojibwe and Korean, being queer, all of these things that make up me, I didn’t ever see myself or feel like I could do things,” she said. “I would hope that young Indigenous girls and women and people would just see that there’s always room for you and you can make room for yourself.” Miss Indigenous Canada will take place at the end of July. RELATED STORIES:
