‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Season 2: After the Sashay with Suki Doll

Xtra contributor Russ Martin gets all the tea from this week’s eliminated “Drag Race” contestant

As one of very few drag performers of Asian descent working regularly in Quebec, Suki Doll was often typecast and pigeonholed as she came up in the Montreal drag scene. When the drag star was cast on Canada’s Drag Race, she arrived with a mission to represent AAPI performers and fans.

Suki’s run on the show was a love letter to AAPI cultures, from her collaboration with designer Terrence Zhou to her beautiful showcase of her tattoos, which represent her Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodian roots. Though she was sent home last episode, on the runway she delivered an inspired, fashion-forward homage to Sandra Oh in the 1994 Canadian indie flick Double Happiness that was adored by the judges.

After her elimination, Suki Doll joined Xtra’s After the Sashay to discuss AAPI representation, her work as a fashion designer and growing up in the projects.

Russ Martin is a writer whose work has been published in Flare, the Toronto Star, The Walrus, and NewNowNext. He lives in Toronto.

Keep Reading

Who gets to claim parental rights?

Xtra and TVO’s Unravelled partnered on this mini-doc diving into what "parental rights" policies mean for kids and parents across Canada

Second Alberta town votes to ban Pride flags, rainbow crosswalks

Barrhead residents voted this week in favour of new “neutrality” bylaw

Xtra Explains: Parental rights

What does Canadian law actually say when it comes to the rights of parents and trans kids?

Xtra Explains: Social vs. medical transition

Media and politicians like to fixate on the medical aspects of transition. But for most trans youth, social transition plays a much bigger part in their lives