Kettle and Stony Point First Nation member to participate in pageant

By Sam Laskaris

SARNIA – Summer Manning-Catt is sticking to her plan of competing in this year’s Miss Indigenous Canada pageant.

The Kettle and Stony Point First Nation member, however, is bringing along a tiny sidekick.

Manning-Catt will be 28 weeks pregnant with her first child when she competes at the pageant scheduled for July 23-26 in Six Nations of the Grand River.

“When I found out I was pregnant, I was a little unsure about continuing on with the competition,” said Manning-Catt, who celebrated her 29th birthday on July 15. “But knowing that this pageant is in large part about being a positive role model, I thought that it’s also important to consider how that would potentially look if I pulled out just because I’m pregnant.”

She knew preparing for the pageant would be a bit more challenging during her pregnancy.

“But I think it is important to also think about the messaging that just because your plans change, it’s still important to follow through with commitments, even if they’re a little bit more difficult,” she said.

This marks the second year of the Miss Indigenous Canada pageant. Last year’s event was also held in Six Nations.

Manning-Catt had shared details about the pageant both years via her social media platforms.

“I actually didn’t even consider it for myself at first,” she said. “I was very busy sharing it with all of my friends, though, and encouraging them to enter.”

Then, one of Manning-Catt’s friends suggested that she herself enter.

Though she had never entered a pageant before, that’s exactly what she decided to do.

Manning-Catt said the Miss Indigenous Canada event appealed to her as contestants are not judged based on their appearances.

Instead, entrants are scored based on their efforts writing an essay, answering questions, delivering cultural presentations, and preparing a scrapbook on their community.

“I think that one of the biggest things for me is that it seems to have a high importance when thinking about role models and being a positive role model in your community,” Manning-Catt said of the pageant. “That’s something that I’ve kind of grown up with. My mom has been very close to me. But I also have a ton of younger cousins and younger family members. And that was something that was always very much enforced, that I was reminded about that I was older than them and I should really be considerate about what I’m doing and what I’m saying because there’s always younger people watching me.”

Manning-Catt was born and grew up in Sarnia, the southwestern Ontario city she still lives in and is located about a 45-minute drive from her First Nation.

She works at Sarnia’s Lambton College as the Indigenous student navigator at the Indigenous student centre.

“I actually went to the college right out of high school and then I went off to university and I worked for a couple years,” she said. “I love the college so much that I decided to go back and that’s when I ended up getting a part-time job there.”

She’s been in her current position for over two years.

“I personally love Lambton because I really think that they value true reconciliation – that they really try to be actionable and thoughtful with how they’re proceeding and they really do a lot of work for consultation with our department as well,” Manning-Catt said.

She’s one of 19 contestants who will take part in this year’s Miss Indigenous Canada event.

“I think at the end of the day, the biggest thing that I’m hoping for is just to make connections with the other contestants and people running pageants,” she said. “And I want to be able to learn about other cultures and their traditions and their perspectives.”

She also plans to continue hyping the event to possible future contestants.

“I think a lot of Indigenous youth, even if they are good role models, they don’t necessarily see themselves that way,” she said. “And sometimes, people just need a positive support or for someone to say, ‘You would be really great at this,’ because I know that meant a lot to me that a friend thought that I could possibly be a good participant for this pageant.”