Birthwork Collectives/Organizations
- Northern Birthwork Collective"Our mission is to provide cost supported programming and services for all stages of the reproductive journey including conception, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, miscarriage, loss, abortion, and parenting."
- ekw’í7tl doula collective
"We are a network of Vancouver-based Indigenous doulas who work with midwives, doctors and birth workers to provide full-circle mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual support to mothers and families during pregnancy, labour, birth, postpartum care and beyond. We connect Indigenous doulas with Indigenous families for culturally relevant and holistic birth work." - Aunties on the RoadProvides full spectrum doula support to Indigenous youth 12-30 in Algonquin and Mohawk territories. Each year they offer full-spectrum training.
- Nesting Doula Collective
Vancouver Island based. "Nesting Doula Collective provides care and support to Black, Indigenous and communities of colour at all stages of their reproductive journey from conception to postpartum." - Biidaaban Doula CollectiveThe Biidaaban Doula Collective offers a wide range of doula services from preconception to postpartum as well as fertility and loss and bereavement care. Their goal is to provide full-circle informational, emotional, physical, and spiritual care to mothers and their families. Services are provided at no cost to First Nation, Métis, and Inuit women and their families who reside in the North Simcoe Muskoka region.
- Call Auntie Clinic
The Call Auntie Clinic, grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being, welcomes anyone who is looking for access to healthcare. The Call Auntie Clinic offers a variety of supports, including help with pregnancy options or answering questions if you are pregnant and not sure what to do and/or don’t want to be pregnant. They are located in Tkarōn:to (Toronto) governed by the Dish With One Spoon Treaty.
What is Indigenous Birthwork?
Birthworkers (or Birth Keepers/Aunties, Doulas) are trained professionals who support families and individuals during pregnancy, birth, postpartum, abortion, miscarriage and loss by providing emotional, spiritual, physical and informational support.
From Northern Birthwork Collective.
Midwives are primary health care providers who have the skills to care for pregnant people, babies, and their families throughout pregnancy and postpartum (National Council of Indigenous Midwives). See Indigenous Midwifery for more information.
General Resources
- Putting them on a strong spiritual path: Indigenous doulas responding to the needs of Indigenous mothers and communities2021. In the past few years, increasing numbers of Indigenous doula collectives have been forming across Canada. Indigenous doulas provide continuous, culturally appropriate support to Indigenous women during pregnancy, birth, and the post-partum period. This paper analyzes interviews with members of five Indigenous doula collectives to demonstrate their shared challenges, strategies, and missions.
- Heart work: Indigenous doulas responding to challenges of western systems and revitalizing Indigenous birthing care in Canada2022. In Canada, there has been a significant increase in the training of Indigenous doulas. The purpose of our project was to interview Indigenous doulas across Canada in order to document how they worked through the logistics of providing doula care and to discern their main challenges and innovations.
- Birthing in a settler state: the resurgence of Indigenous birth practices in "Canada"By Rivka Lansberg (2021). This project investigates the impacts of colonization on Indigenous birthing practices and the current Indigenous birth resurgence happening within the colonial confines of Canada. This investigation is presented through semi-structured interviews with seven Indigenous birthworkers residing and practicing on Ktunaxa and Sinixt land.
- Peer doula support training for Black and Indigenous groups in Nova Scotia, Canada: A community‐based qualitative studyThe objectives of this qualitative study were to explore participant experiences of doula training programs offered by a prisoner health advocacy organization and Indigenous and Black community groups.
- Indigenous birth support worker (IBSW) program evaluation: a qualitative analysis of program workers and clients' perspectivesThe Indigenous Birth Support Worker (IBSW) Program provides Indigenous women with respectful, culturally safe, and trauma-informed care and supports women and families during labor and delivery. The study objective was to explore the perspectives of the IBSWs and program clients one year post-implementation.
- Indigenous Birth as Ceremony and a Human RightThis paper argues that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals contain frameworks for Indigenous rights that include the right to incorporate Indigenous childbirth ceremonies into clinical practice. Examining the importance of birthplace, this paper details a current movement in Manitoba, Canada, to "bring birth home."
- Canada's forced birth travel: towards feminist indigenous reproductive mobilitiesThe mandatory travel for birth experienced by Indigenous women living in rural and remote areas of Canada is examined using an emergent lens of Indigenous reproductive mobilities. Indigenous feminist and decolonial theoretical approaches are used to outline one way in which Indigenous women counter settler colonialism to assert sovereignty over their birth experiences – through the resurgence of culturally-based doulas or birth workers.
Videos and Media
Abortion
- The Fireweed Project
Through a community-led approach, the goal of the Fireweed Project is to build on existing community knowledge and strengths, advance knowledge around, and remove barriers to abortion services for Indigenous Women, Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual, plus (LGBTQIA+) People in Canada. - A qualitative study exploring access barriers to abortion services among Indigenous Peoples in CanadaOur study demonstrates that Indigenous Peoples experience abortion access barriers that are different than non-Indigenous Canadians, and that these barriers are closely linked to colonialism. Indigenous knowledges and practices that honor reproductive choice that pre-dates settler colonialism, must be brought forward into today to enhance the quality of abortion care.
- Experiences of access to contraception and abortion care among Indigenous clients: A systematic reviewThis paper summarizes the literature describing Indigenous clients’ experiences accessing contraception and abortion services in Canada, and identifies opportunities for health service improvement.
Abortion to abolition : reproductive health and justice in Canada by ISBN: 9781773635149Publication Date: 2022While Canada has constitutionally affirmed aspects of reproductive liberation, it also has a colonial history of reproductive oppression and practices ongoing carceral policies that criminalize disproportionately Indigenous and racialized people, threatening their access to reproductive justice.
