By Kelsey Borgford, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Parry Sound North Star
North Sutherland-Spence hopes to use a platform highlighting Indigenous issues to win the title of Miss Teen Personality, a pageantry competition put on by Personality Pageants Canada.
Originally from Constance Lake First Nation, Sutherland-Spence has made Nipissing First Nation her home for more than a decade. During this time, she has begun doing advocacy work about issues that affect Indigenous populations. When not doing her activism work, Sutherland-Spence can be found working on her schooling at Nbisiing Secondary School or practising for the upcoming pageant.
Sutherland-Spence is quoted as saying, “My platform is based on mistreatment and lack of help Indigenous people are enduring in Canada. Indigenous people suffer from violence, abuse, substance abuse and murder due to generational trauma stemming from colonization and genocide. I’m hoping to raise awareness and create solutions on these ongoing issues.”
She makes use of social media as a tool to get her message across, especially her public Instagram @NorthSutherlandSpence where she speaks on the issues mentioned above, as well topics such as murdered and missing Indigenous women and LGBT2S+ rights.
It is also important to Sutherland-Spence to focus on cultural revitalization and says, “I am hoping to bring my communities together to keep our cultures alive and thriving.” She stays involved in her culture through traditional practices such as powwow dancing where she dances the style jingle dress, which is a healing dance.
The crowning of Miss Teen Personality will be held in February, and the winner of the title will receive a sash, gift basket, plaque and more. Sutherland-Spence is hopeful she will receive the title to help boost her voice and in turn create more awareness for the issues that are important to her.
Sutherland-Spence has plenty of ambition. In the future, she hopes to continue on the pageantry pathway and aspires to do modelling work. Additionally, she hopes to become a businessperson who would like to in her own words, “start my own charities, which will fund future business women, Indigenous reservation schooling and transgender reassignment surgeries.”
Kelsey Borgford is a Nbisiing Nishnaabekwe from the Marten clan and is a freelance Local Journalism Initiative reporter seeking to facilitate the platform of Indigenous people across Turtle Island through her writing. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
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