Canada will compete in the Eurovision Song Contest from 2027, the first country to join since Australia in 2015. Canada is not in Europe. It does not have to be.
The contest is open to every member of the European Broadcasting Union, and geography has nothing to do with it. Canada joined the EBU last week, and within days the EBU and the public broadcaster CBC confirmed a Canadian act will appear at the 2027 final in Bulgaria. The announcement landed on Canada Day. [1]
What the viral version gets wrong
The news raced around social media under a pair of flags, the Maple Leaf next to the ring of gold stars. [2] Canada is not joining the European Union. The EBU is a broadcasting alliance, not a political bloc, which is also how Australia, Israel and a stretch of North African and Middle Eastern broadcasters have long been eligible. Australia, for the record, is only an associate member and got in through a special invitation; Canada joined as the real thing.
The other overstatement is subtler. Plenty of coverage frames this as Canada finally getting to sing at Eurovision. Canada has already won it. Céline Dion took the 1988 title, singing "Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi" for Switzerland by a single point. New Brunswick's Natasha St-Pier represented France in 2001, and Quebec-born La Zarra did the same in 2023. Canadians have been on that stage for decades, just under borrowed flags.
How the entry gets picked
CBC says it will announce its selection method later this year. Some countries, like Sweden and Italy, run televised national finals that are enormous events on their own; others, like the UK, simply let the broadcaster choose. Which route Canada takes is genuinely unknown right now.
The timing is not nothing. Eurovision is expanding into Canada the same year Prime Minister Mark Carney has pulled the country closer to Europe diplomatically, and a former French culture minister once dismissed the whole contest as "a monument to drivel." Canada is signing up anyway.
The 2027 edition heads to Sofia after Bulgaria's Dara won the 70th contest in May, a year clouded by controversy. Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia all boycotted over Israel's continued participation, and the final drew 130 million viewers worldwide, down from 160 million in 2025. Whether the boycotting countries return remains unclear.
So does the one question every Canadian is now asking: who actually goes to Sofia. That answer comes later this year.
Sources
Primary source: Canada to join Eurovision song contest from 2027
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