Indigenous entrepreneur uses Mrs. Canada platform to champion financial empowerment

by Chevi Rabbit, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(ANNews) – For Indigenous entrepreneur Crystal Janvier-Romaniuk, competing in the Mrs. Miss Ms. Canada pageant is about much more than wearing a crown. It is an opportunity to amplify a message she has spent years building through her work: that financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and generational wealth are essential tools for Indigenous self-determination and economic reconciliation.

A proud member of Cold Lake First Nation, Janvier-Romaniuk was raised between northern Alberta communities connected to Treaty 8 territory, including her mother’s home community of Driftpile Cree Nation. She says those early experiences shaped her determination and inspired her commitment to helping Indigenous families build long-term financial security.

At just 18 years old, she began attending the University of Alberta with her 10-day-old son, becoming the first person on either side of her extended family to pursue a university education. Balancing motherhood, financial hardship, and the challenges of adapting to city life, she says those early years taught her resilience.

“I didn’t want to be another statistic,” she said. “I realized no one is going to make your life better except for you.”

Janvier-Romaniuk went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Alberta before completing an Executive MBA through Simon Fraser University’s Beedie School of Business.

Today, she serves as CEO of Sundance Enterprises Ltd. and founder of Sundance Wealth Management, an Indigenous-owned, women-led initiative focused on financial literacy, investment education, and creating pathways toward generational wealth for Indigenous and non-Indigenous clients alike.

For more than a decade, Sundance Enterprises Ltd. provided consulting services within Alberta’s oil and gas and skilled trades sectors before expanding into Indigenous business consulting, entrepreneurship training, financial literacy, and economic development initiatives.

Through her Entrepreneurship 101 workshops and consulting programs, Janvier-Romaniuk says she has helped hundreds of Indigenous entrepreneurs launch and grow their own businesses.

“My platform is Indigenous reconciliation and closing the gap – the poverty gap within our people,” she said. “It’s really about breaking generational cycles of poverty and building generational wealth for our people.”

Her work is deeply rooted in her own lived experience. Growing up, she remembers periods of significant financial hardship that shaped her understanding of how poverty can affect families for generations.

“There were times when we literally had no food in the house,” she said. “That creates a poverty mindset.”

Today, much of her advocacy focuses on financial literacy, home ownership education, entrepreneurship, and helping Indigenous communities understand how to navigate systems that can create long-term stability.

“You only need five per cent down to buy a first home,” she said. “If I could teach young people how to build credit and save that, everything changes.”

She believes financial education should be viewed as a form of empowerment, giving Indigenous youth and families the tools to create opportunities that previous generations often did not have access to.

“I want Indigenous women and youth to know that you can be a successful business owner, build generational wealth, and blaze a trail on stage in the pageant world,” she said.

Her leadership and community impact have earned her numerous recognitions, including the Esquao Award for Leadership in Social Development, Simon Fraser University’s Community Impact Award, and two Women of Purpose Awards honouring her support for Indigenous entrepreneurs and business leadership.

She has also shared her story through the IndigiConnect Podcast and campaigns with Alberta Women Entrepreneurs highlighting Indigenous innovation and leadership.

Pageantry as a Platform for Growth

For Janvier-Romaniuk, the Mrs. Miss Ms. Canada pageant has become another avenue to inspire and create opportunities for others.

She says entering the pageant world has unexpectedly expanded both her personal journey and her community work.

“When we applied for this, I had no idea,” she said. “But it’s spurred so much growth.”

That growth has extended beyond the stage. Inspired by the connections and visibility the pageant has created, Janvier-Romaniuk is organizing and hosting an Indigenous business networking event on June 18 in partnership with Colliers and ATB. The event will bring together Indigenous entrepreneurs, business leaders, and community partners to build relationships, strengthen networks, and showcase Indigenous-owned businesses.

She hopes the gathering will encourage collaboration while highlighting the innovation and resilience of Indigenous entrepreneurship across Alberta.

“This pageant has really pushed me to grow in ways I never expected,” she said.

While pageantry is often viewed as a competition, Janvier-Romaniuk says her greatest challenge has always been herself.

“I compete with myself,” she said. “How can I grow? How can I be better?”

That philosophy, she says, reflects the same determination that carried her from being a young mother attending university with a newborn son to becoming a successful entrepreneur, business leader, and advocate for financial empowerment.

For Janvier-Romaniuk, the pageant platform is ultimately about representation. She wants Indigenous women and youth to see that they belong in every space—from boardrooms and businesses to public stages and national competitions.

“Our communities deserve to see themselves thriving in every space,” she said.

The Mrs. Miss Ms. Canada national competition will take place July 22–26, 2026, in Surrey, British Columbia.