Laetcia Mwayuma is a student at Saskatchewan Polytechnique and a coordinator for Association des parents fransaskois. (submitted photo/Laetcia Mwayuma)

By Alison Sandstrom

Pageant dreams

P.A. Miss World Canada contestant wants to inspire other immigrants

May 26, 2020 | 2:13 PM

A Prince Albert woman is celebrating after being selected as a finalist in the Miss World Canada pageant.

Laeticia Mwayuma, 26, told paNOW she wants to use her platform in the competition to be an advocate for human rights and to show other newcomers they can achieve their dreams.

“I want to show other immigrants, even though you may have lost everything in life, since you’re alive, it means there is hope,” she said.

Mwayuma, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said she’s always been interested in modelling. While living as a refugee in Uganda, she won a modelling competition, but was told she would never succeed in the industry because she wasn’t Ugandan.

Mwayuma said she wasn’t able to pursue her passion until she came to Canada just over two years ago.

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“Even though you are an immigrant, in Canada you can still have the same value and you can be what you want,” she said. “Being an immigrant cannot stop you.”

Mwayuma, who speaks seven languages, works as a co-ordinator for the Association des parents fransaskois, an early childhood resource centre in Prince Albert. She’s also involved with La Société canadienne-française de Prince Albert and explained she sees education as an important way to uplift others.

Of the 60 women from across the country selected to compete in the 2020 Miss World Canada pageant, two are from Prince Albert.

The competition will take place later this year in Toronto, but Mwayuma said the date has not yet been set because of uncertainty around the pandemic.

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alison.sandstrom@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alisandstrom