Canada will participate in Eurovision in 2027, the organizers said.
It will become the first country to join the competition since Australia did so in 2015.
This announcement comes after a turbulent year for them performances cancelled, among others, Spain, Slovenia and Ireland due to Israel’s participation.
Canada was given the chance to participate last week, as the country’s public broadcaster CBC became a full member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the music competition.
There is already one winner coming from this country.
Celine Dion, who was born in Quebec, represented Switzerland in 1988, winning the award with the song No Partez Pas Sans Moi.
Other Canadian musicians have also competed before, representing France, including Natasha Saint-Pierre in 2001 and La Zara in 2023.
Canada will debut next year in the semi-finals in Bulgaria.
CBC/Radio Canada has yet to reveal the details of how it will select a Canadian representative this year.
Canada is not the only country outside of Europe to join the competition.
Israel and Australia are regular participants, and Morocco competed in 1980.
Mark Carney’s government said in November that it was working with the CBC on possibilities to “participate in Eurovision”.
His government allocated 93 million euros to finance the public service.
CBC was previously an “associate member”.
“Canada’s voice in this community makes us stronger,” said Noel Curran, director of the EBU.
It is still not known whether the countries that boycotted the competitions in 2026 will participate next year.
Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain withdrew as the EBU allowed Israel to participate. The five countries are demanding the same response for Israel over the crimes in Gaza as for Russia, which has been barred from participating since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Speaking ahead of this year’s contest in Vienna, Martin Green, director of Eurovision, said the door was open to anyone to return.
“We have 35 family members and that’s enough for a big party,” he told BBC News.
“But five are absent, and we miss them.”
“Once the competition is over, I know we’ll continue the conversation and see what happens.”
At this year’s Eurovision Bulgarian pop star Dara won with the song Bangaranga, so the 2027 competition will be held in Sofia.
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