Key health outcome measures are far lower for mothers and babies in indigenous populations. Still reeling in the wake of broken generations, it is widely understood that the loss of culturally appropriate pregnancy care has had damaging effects on health. The story of aboriginal midwifery is a much darker tale of colonialism and genocide. It is both a political and a feminist issue. The history of midwifery in Canada is complex. By the time the UK Midwives Act required midwifery attendance at birth and cemented professionalised midwifery, North America had outlawed midwifery, and midwifery in Canada remained outside the health system throughout most of the 1900s. During the 19th century, home births and midwifery became stigmatised across North America and hospital birth rates increased. The story of midwifery in Canada is interwoven with the medicalisation of childbirth and the politics of women’s health provision. After almost 20 years in the UK, I was confronted with a kind of reverse culture shock, but I was also aware that I was going somewhere I had never been before. I had travelled by plane, train and taxi to get there, and I was late for my long-standing appointment with midwife and manager of the birth centre, Julie Wilson. 40, roughly halfway between Brantford and Hagersville, Ontario, and more than 100 km south of Toronto’s financial district. Less than 24 hours in Canada, my taxi pulled off Sour Springs Road to drop me off on First Nations Reserve no.
It is a First Nations birthing place and a small slice of cultural healing. On the other side of the sign it wishes the community a ‘substance-free’ holiday. A sign proudly announces that six babies have been born there so far in March. The name is Mohawk for ‘the place they will be born’. Just past ‘Bear Paw Gas and Convenience’ and not far from ‘Talking Earth Pottery’ sits Tsi Non:we Ionnakeratstha Maternal and Child Health Centre.
On International Day of the Midwife 2020 we are pleased to republish her article from British Journal of Midwifery. This time last year, as part of a pre-doctorate NIHR fellowship, Alison Perry visited a First Nations reserve in Canada to learn about the history of aboriginal women as mothers and the culture of midwifery.
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