For McGill Law student, Miss Indigenous Canada pageant is about community, not competition

Pageant reflects teachings that emphasize responsibility to future generations, says Karahkwinetha Sage Goodleaf-Labelle of Kahnawà:ke who aims to use her legal education to change colonial systems The post For McGill Law student, Miss Indigenous Canada pageant is about community, not competition appeared first on McGill Reporter .

Karahkwinetha Sage Goodleaf-Labelle was a youth delegate at the 2025 Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (a subsidiary body of the UN Human Rights Council) in Geneva, Switzerland As she prepares for the Miss Indigenous Canada pageant, Karahkwinetha Sage Goodleaf-Labelle is focused less on competition and more on responsibility. The McGill University law student is one of 20 delegates selected for the national event, which runs July 20 to 25 and brings together Indigenous women and Two-Spirit participants from across Canada.

For Goodleaf-Labelle, who is Kanien’kehá from Kahnawà:ke, the experience is about connection across Nations rather than performance. Delegates are evaluated on how they represent their communities, share cultural knowledge and build relationships, not just on appearance. The program includes workshops, group activities and a cultural showcase.

Participants present elements of their Nations through song, dance, storytelling or other forms of expression. Goodleaf-Labelle will highlight her basket weaving. She said the pageant reflects teachings that emphasize long-term thinking and responsibility to “the next seven generations.”

She also values the opportunity to connect with Indigenous youth from across the country in a setting designed to foster relationships rather than rivalry. “We’ve been so disconnected, and with COVID even more so,” she said. “This feels like a way to bring everyone together again.”

From science to law Karahkwinetha Sage Goodleaf-Labelle will participate at the 2026 Miss Indigenous Canada competition Goodleaf-Labelle’s path toward law began with a strong interest in neuroscience, psychology and understanding the brain, behaviour and mental health. During internships and clinical placements, she encountered systemic inequities affecting Indigenous patients that shifted her perspective. Those experiences deepened her understanding of how institutional systems shape Indigenous peoples’ experiences and pushed her to think beyond individual care toward broader questions of accountability, policy and systemic change.

“It made me angry,” she said. “I had to figure out a way to help change policy.” Goodleaf-Labelle shifted to law, seeing it as the best way to address structural issues.

Her current work with Kahnawà:ke Legislative Services and her studies at McGill reflect that focus on governance, policy and legal frameworks. Her environmental advocacy follows the same thread. She has been involved in helping educate her community on files involving carbon markets, land-use agreements and the legal language surrounding those issues.

Through that work, she has sought to help community members understand how complex legal and environmental frameworks can affect Indigenous territories and governance. Those conversations have extended beyond Kahnawà:ke. Through her participation in United Nations forums, she has helped bring forward concerns about how carbon markets, land use and environmental policy affect Indigenous communities, their territories and their responsibilities to future generations.

“It was greenwashing,” she said. For her, the work is about interpretation between systems and community understanding. “One of my important roles is to act as translator,” she said.

Navigating colonial legal systems Her time in McGill’s Faculty of Law has brought both opportunity and challenge. Like many Indigenous students, she describes the difficulty of balancing academic demands with community responsibilities and cultural obligations. Seasonal ceremonies in Kahnawà:ke often overlap with academic schedules, and accommodations are not always straightforward.

That tension, she said, can make it difficult to remain fully grounded in community while pursuing post-secondary education. Goodleaf-Labelle describes criminal law as particularly difficult to study, given its connection to colonial legal systems that continue to shape Indigenous lives. “It was triggering,” she said.

“To know this system was built in part to erase our existence and still see it in place today, that was hard.” Despite this, she continues to see legal education as necessary for the work she hopes to do in her community. Collective responsibility and future work Looking ahead, Goodleaf-Labelle plans to pursue bar admission and continue working in law, probably with a focus on family or criminal law.

She is already working with legal practitioners while finishing her degree. Her world view is shaped by Kanien’kehá teachings of Ka’nikonhrí (the Good Mind), Ka’satsténshera (strength), Konnorónhkhwa (love) and Skén (peace), which she describes as guiding how she approaches both law and community work. Those principles, she said, emphasize balance, responsibility and collective care rather than individual advancement.

Change, she said, comes from shared effort across community. “I don’t think one person changes everything alone,” she said. “Collectively we can have a bigger impact.”

Even as she prepares to take centre stage at the Miss Indigenous Canada pageant, Goodleaf-Labelle sees her role as rooted in behind-the-scenes work within her community, helping bridge systems that are sometimes weighted against them and supporting the flow of information, understanding and decision-making. “I don’t see myself necessarily leading from the front,” she said. “I want to be part of the bigger collective.”

Karahkwinetha Sage Goodleaf-Labelle speaks at the 2023 March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City The post For McGill Law student, Miss Indigenous Canada pageant is about community, not competition appeared first on McGill Reporter .