Article content

By Andrea Woo and Gordon Hoekstra

VANCOUVER — Even as a Grade 8 student at Vancouver’s Killarney secondary, Jenna Talackova’s femininity was apparent.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Jenna Talackova's journey from First Nation to Miss Universe contestant Back to video

Talackova, now a Miss Universe Canada contestant, still classified as a boy back then, but the teenager’s mannerisms and appearance were that of a young woman. She had a slender frame and a blond bob; she hung around mostly with female friends.

She had changed her name from Walter to Page.

“It was very obvious,” said Teruko Walker, recalling her looks and behaviour when she was in her early teens.

“It wasn’t like she looked like a boy, but acted like a girl. She very much looked like a female,” said Walker, who was in Grade 11 at the high school at the time.

The Vancouver-born Talackova, 23, was kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada competition last Friday after she was selected as one of 65 finalists because she was not born a man.

[np-related]

The winner of that contest, who ultimately will be crowned on May 19 in Toronto, will go on to represent Canada in the global Miss Universe Pageant later in the year.