Lethbridge’s Jaime Vandenberg wins Miss Universe Canada

Vandenberg explains that past experiences with gun violence and bad management have reshaped the way she approaches life, activism, and modelling.

In 2021, she went to Colombia to embark on a new professional modelling contract. After having to self-isolate for a few days due to COVID-19 restrictions, she says she was held at gunpoint and the assailant tried to shoot her.

“I was really, really lucky to have survived that. Somebody intervened at the same time he pulled the trigger. So, he looked over the same arm that he was holding the gun, which made him move his arm as he pulled the trigger and fired, and missed me by inches,” says Vandenberg.

She spent the entirety of the rest of that day in shock, speaking with the police, and trying to navigate a traumatic situation in a new country where she did not know its primary language.

Her agent had reportedly broken a promise to her to give her the following day off to recover, and forced her to work anyway.

“My agency at the time was a very bad agency. [There are] good agencies and bad agencies in the modeling world. My agency at that time was terrible, and so they didn’t even give me the next day off work.”

Looking back on that experience now, Vandenberg says she wants to be a supportive and inspirational figure for girls and young women everywhere.

She believes that it is crucial to know what your acceptable boundaries are and to stand up for yourself, even when you feel the pressure to comply.

One of Vandenberg’s many career goals is to one day open a boutique modelling agency in Lethbridge and guide aspirational models along a brighter path.

“I want to be that supportive person. Like, I’ve learned so much going through the industry in a way that was pretty unsupported for a long time, that I love to be able to tell people, you know, like if you go to a casting and you don’t like the clothes or you don’t think that represents you, like, let’s say it’s lingerie and that’s not what you’re doing. That’s against your beliefs. You don’t want to do it, then don’t do it.”

She also wants to speak out more against gender-based violence and dispel the myth that it mostly happens in other parts of the world.

The Canadian Women’s Foundation reports that one woman or girl is killed every 48 hours in Canada due to gender-based violence, and that, in 2022, 184 women and girls died.

Vandenberg is planning a cross-Canada tour where she speaks about this issue and the resources that are available to support victims.

“I also really want to raise awareness for the fact that if something like this happens to you, I hope that people feel empowered to leave,” she says. I hope they feel empowered to see what resources are available in their local community.”

Prior to this event, Vandenberg worked in the Lethbridge Police Service Victim Services Unit as a crisis support worker. She says she never thought her training would come of use for herself, but she is glad that she had that knowledge.

She recently applied to law school.

Back on the pageant circuit, Vandenberg has qualified for Miss Universe 2025, which is set to take place in Bangkok, Thailand, on November 21, 2025.

by David Opinko

Lethbridge’s Jaime Vandenberg wins Miss Universe Canada

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