What the hell, Canada will do Eurovision, too

The Great White North is officially joining the European Song Contest for 2027.

By Drew Gillis  |  July 1, 2026 | 12:29pm
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming/EBU
Music News Eurovision
What the hell, Canada will do Eurovision, too

Eurovision tends to play pretty fast and loose with what they’re willing to call “Euro.” The most recent edition of the festival included Australia and, controversially, Israel; the latter’s inclusion, despite the genocide in Gaza, prompted Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain to boycott the ceremony, while Russia hasn’t participated since 2021 over its military campaign in Ukraine. In short, the song contest is kind of a geopolitical mess, and at this point, it might as well let Canada join, too. 

And that’s exactly what’s just happened, according to Variety. Last week, the European Broadcasting Union voted to allow Canada to join the contest, and the nation announced today that it intends to participate in the 2026 edition of the contest. 

The move is not as random as it may sound to those who don’t keep up with the song contest. Eurovision is pretty massively popular in Canada, with residents and citizens both voting in and buying tickets to the contest in fairly high numbers. Like Australia, Canada is part of the British Commonwealth, and the country has seen several of its singers participate in the contest already representing European (and often French-speaking) countries. The most famous example of this is Céline Dion, who represented Switzerland in 1988 and won the contest. Fellow Québec native La Zarra represented France in 2023; she came in 16th. 

 
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