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From the Sioux Lookout Bulletin 

Melinda Henderson vying for Miss North Ontario

Tim Brody - ASSOCIATE EDITOR - April 25, 2012

A young woman from North Spirit Lake First Nation who is attending Queen Elizabeth District High School is vying for the title of Miss North Ontario 2012.

Nineteen-year-old Melinda Henderson vying for Miss North Ontario Melinda Henderson explained, “I had found the website online and I knew a few girls who did it last year and it looked really interesting to me so I looked into it.”

The Grade 12 student said, “You had to provide a picture and write a biography and write about all your volunteer work. They look at the inside of you. It’s not a beauty pageant. It’s beauty with a purpose… They really focus on each girl as an individual and how they contribute to their communities.”

Henderson commented, “I’ve been getting a lot of support and it means so much. The experience has been really rewarding. I feel a bit more confident… On May 10, 11 and 12 I’m going to Sudbury. The pageant takes place at Laurentian University.”

People can vote for Henderson for the People’s Choice Award at www.missnorthontario.com

“If you win the People’s Choice Award it’s like a fast track to the top 15 and it’s a total of 45 girls I’m competing against in Sudbury so it would help a lot if I won that,” she said.

Online voting for the People’s Choice Award began April 15 and runs until May 9.

QEDHS Principal Steve Poling commented on Henderson entering the competition, “I think it’s a great initiative on her part and I encourage everyone to vote for her. She’s a really neat person and she would certainly represent our area really, really well.”

All about Melinda!

HI, my name is Melinda Henderson and I am a delegate in the Miss North Ontario Regional Canada Pageant 2012 representing my reserve North Spirit Lake located in Ontario (Miss North Spirit Lake). I attend high school in Sioux Lookout as a boarding student at Queen Elizabeth District High School and am graduating this year. I plan on attending Lakehead University or University of Manitoba in the fall pursuing a study in the field of English.

I’m an aspiring singer, model, and actress. In October of 2010, at age 17, I placed first in the NCI Jam (talent competition) held in Winnipeg, Manitoba where I won $2500, radio play, and a beautiful trophy. In November 2011 I got my Melinda Henderson Submitted Photo profiled in an “I Am Indigenous” project by local photographers from Sioux Lookout named Adrienne Fox and Brent Wesley. I had modeled for this profiling and months later she had chosen one of my portraits to portray in the Sioux Lookout Centennial Art Show in the month of February. In doing this profiling I was recognized by Grace Winter, director of “SEVEN” magazine and was recently on the cover with a two page article about my singing aspirations and dreams. 

This past September I began taking a guitar class and am now playing and writing my own songs. Since the month of February I have been working on my very first album to be complete in May and released in June of this year in hopes of being at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards in the fall of 2013. In January of this year I attended the Season 2 Launch Party for APTN’s hit TV show “Blackstone” in Edmonton, Alberta. I was approached by an agency to model and sing and by another agency to work as an extra when they begin filming season three of Blackstone. I am looking into moving to Edmonton this summer when they begin filming because I want to gain any type of experience in acting and television. 

I am taking part in a few youth conferences being held at Pelican Falls High School sharing my story and will also be singing. I will also be speaking at a Youth Conference being held in Dryden on May 8. I am up for two athletic awards at Queen Elizabeth District High School because I’ve played quite a few of them!

I also enjoy film editing, film making, making videos, volunteering, writing, reading, and especially traveling. I am a well travelled Oji-Cree for I have lived in various provinces such as Manitoba, Ontario, and Alberta. I love playing sports and keeping active.

Some sports I’ve played in recent years and do for fun are cheerleading, basketball, swimming, rock-climbing, volleyball, gymnastics, dance, and I am now beginning to play soccer and track and field. I have a lot of energy and like to challenge myself physically to sustain a healthy active lifestyle. In maintaining a healthy lifestyle I don’t smoke, do drugs, or drink. These were personal choices I had made in respect to myself and my grandparents who I want to make proud. In my spare time I am at the library, in my room writing songs, or on walks with my iPod.

I love Ontario and I am proud to be native. I am going to represent not just my community but Aboriginal People in general at the Miss North Ontario Regional Canada Pageant 2012. 

I hope to inspire people and set an example for Aboriginals to chase after your dreams and take as many opportunities and chances as you want. I want people to overcome their hardships and realize how intelligent they are. I didn’t grow up getting everything I wanted. I worked hard for everything I have and it’s made me into who I am. I had to overcome many obstacles to get to the places I am in now and despite the hard times I went through or have been through I can still find it in my heart to believe that there is something worth holding on for. I’ve been in places of hopelessness and saw no way out until I started reminding myself to hold on and believe in my dream to be a singer. I think the Creator put me through hard times to make me stronger and so that I use my singing to help others believe when it feels like nothings ever going to change. 

Melinda Henderson