A discussion of ethnic representation in the Miss PNE Pageant.
BC is known for being a multicultural province, with large communities representing groups of specific ethnic backgrounds. Despite this, BC has had a troubling history with racism; the PNE grounds were used during World War II as internment camps for the Japanese, and the turning away of the Komagata Maru in 1914. When beginning my research for this paper, I confess to having a pit in my stomach, concerned as to what I may find. Knowing BC’s history of racism, and my pre-conceived notions of pageants being quite sexist, I was worried. Suffice to say that up until this point of this paper, things could have been worse. Though pageant participants were busy, they did not seem to be preyed upon by the male gaze and were acting of their own volition, proper expression of self for their own sake.
However, there are two exceptions that should be addressed. Though they could be addressed as “what was normal then,” or “that’s just the way things were then, but they aren’t now” they should still be mentioned. Progress requires recognition of what went wrong in the past.
First: the early years of the pageant were very focused on women’s bodies. The first Miss Abbotsford’s application was quite short, but it did want to know the applicant’s height, weight, hair colour, and eye colour.[1] We know they were being judged on their physical appearance, but it is unclear how these details played into the judging process. This image of the participants for 1956 shows a group with a mostly similar body type, but could that be attributed to the application form, or beauty standards of the time?
Reporting on pageant winners also occasionally included similar information, though this may have been due to the black-and-white nature of newspapers. When Jeannette Warmerdam won, the Vancouver Sun described her as “a 17-year-old blue-eyed blonde.”[2] The same descriptor was used for Carol Kish in an article by the Vancouver Sun, which also includes this quote (a personal favourite):
“My measurements? Thirty-six, 24, 36. No, I don’t have a boy friend. I don’t want one – I’d rather be free.”[3]
Good for Carol, clearly one of the more progressive stances on female liberation seen up to this point.
Perhaps, as a male writer who was not alive at this time, body types may have been a non-issue, enough that Carol was happy to give her measurements out in an interview. On the other hand, the photos of contestants show that participants did not deviate from the norm, many of them were slender. Was the pageant purposefully excluding those with different physiques? It’s difficult to say so, but it can be said that there was a consistent physique that was winning.
Either way, a lack of overall representation of individuals of different body types, or those with visible disabilities, can be alienating. When one grows up distinctively outside the “norm” and does not see others like them, it can be damaging to one’s mental health and further this sense of being “othered.” It’s hard to imagine what young women that were overweight, or visibly disabled, were thinking of themselves while watching the pageant; they were unfortunately not a part of the pageant’s notion of “beautiful.”
The section following this one will discuss the restructuring of the Abbotsford Pageant, but in brief; one of the goals was to focus less on beauty and more on self-betterment. Did it succeed in circumventing these issues of poor representation?
[PHOTO OF 96 PARTICIPANTS]In short, we could say that it was a step in the right direction. It’s tough to tell from a collection of headshots, but these candidates were not all the slender “blue-eyed blondes” that had been winning previous years. It’s also worth noting that not all these candidates were white, another step in the right direction, which brings us to…
The second problem: most of the winners were Caucasian. I take care in addressing this issue, as this only accounts for the winners; research into every single applicant would be far too much work for this paper, and I’ve got deadlines! In the Miss Abbotsford Pageant’s final year, two of the eight candidates were not Caucasian: Sheila Evani, and Gurinder Banwait. Regarding previous years, it is uncertain. Finding photos of every single winner is difficult, but judging by the names of the Miss PNE Pageant, it is safe to say they were mostly white.
So, we should celebrate Devi Brar.
Devi Brar was crowned Miss Langley on June 19th, the announcement of which “brought the house down at the Langley Senior Secondary School gymnasium.”[4] She would then win the Miss PNE Pageant later that summer, beating the other 39 contestants. She won $1,000 and would represent the PNE in functions in Canada and the U.S.[5]
Almost 30 years later, in 2010, she would write into The Province’s “PNE: Thanks for 100 years of memories” retrospective piece. Her message speaks for itself:
“In 1981, I competed along with 47 other women for the Miss PNE title. When it came time to sign the parental consent to travel, I remember joking to my mom not to bother since it probably wouldn’t be me winning. I became Miss PNE 1981, and was honoured to receive that title, and also be the first Indo-Canadian Miss PNE. PNE President Erwin Swangard and his wife Doris became good friends from then on, and led me on a path of travel and public relations that I will never forget.
The only PNE memory to top that was taking my son to his first PNE ever, when he was just over a year old. No other PNE memory can compare to seeing his face light up when we walked by the bright lights and blaring rock music of the teen rides in Playland. I saw the future.”[6]
Devi Brar was the 33rd Miss PNE, and an important step in representation at an event sorely lacking in it. She stated she wanted to study broadcast journalism at Douglas College, but she would go on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts Degree from UBC and would work for the government.
Devinder Kour Brar passed away in April of 2012, after a four-year battle with Breast Cancer. She left her husband and her son, who she considered to be her biggest and most beautiful accomplishment. Her obituary describes her as “one of the gentlest souls to walk this earth with a warm smile that was brighter than the sun.”
Devi was only officially Queen of the PNE for a year, but her life was indicative that the title of Queen lasted for far longer.
[1] The Abbotsford News, 1955.
[2] The Vancouver Sun, 1973.
[3] The Vancouver Sun, 1961.
[4] The Langley Advance, 1981.
[5] The Province, 1981.
[6] The Province, 2010.