Canada is heading to Eurovision. In a huge announcement, the European Broadcasting Union EBU and CBC/Radio Canada confirmed that Canada will officially take part in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, which is being hosted in Bulgaria. This is a massive moment for the competition, since Canada is the first new country to join Eurovision since Australia was added back in 2015. Canada will start by competing in the semi-finals when it joins the contest next year.
How Did This Happen?
It all comes down to broadcaster membership rules. CBC/Radio Canada was granted full EBU membership during the organisation's General Assembly in Prague, having previously only held associate member status since the EBU was founded in 1950. That change was made possible because the EBU revised its statutes to allow extra-European membership for broadcasters from countries with public media systems that align with Council of Europe standards and hold formal observer status with the Council. Canada checked both boxes, clearing the path for its Eurovision debut. As for how Canada will actually pick its artist and song, CBC/Radio Canada says it will reveal details on the selection process later this year.
This isn't exactly out of nowhere either. CBC/Radio Canada was first reported to be exploring Eurovision participation back in November 2025, and the broadcaster even sent observers to watch the 2026 contest in Vienna. Turns out, the interest was already there. For the 2026 contest, Canada actually ranked in the Top 3 countries in the "Rest of the World" public vote, and Canadians were among the biggest ticket buyers from outside Europe, with plenty of them flying to Vienna just to catch the semi-finals and grand final live.
CBC/Radio Canada's President and CEO, Marie-Philipe Bouchard, tied the announcement to Canada Day, saying the country is "bringing the world's largest live music event to Canadians" and that this will let Canadian talent shine on one of music's most iconic stages while fans keep watching and voting, now with their own country in the running too. Eurovision director Martin Green echoed that excitement, calling it a sign the contest keeps welcoming the world even though it began in Europe.
Canada actually already has some Eurovision history, just not as a competing nation. Celine Dion famously won Eurovision back in 1988, though she was representing Switzerland at the time, not Canada. Other Canadians have also stepped onto the Eurovision stage under different countries' flags over the years, including Natasha St-Pier, who represented France in 2001, and Montreal's La Zarra, who represented France again in 2023.
It's worth noting that Eurovision has had its share of controversy lately too. Earlier this year, five countries- Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Slovenia, boycotted the contest over Israel's continued participation amid the genocide in Gaza, and a push to remove Israel from the competition was rejected by European broadcasters. This tension is expected to stick around.
For Canada, fans north of the border finally get what they have wanted for years: a real shot at seeing their own country represented on the Eurovision stage in 2027.