Indigenous Midwifery
Infographic from the National Council of Indigenous Midwives.
Indigenous Midwifery
Midwives are primary health care providers who have the skills to care for pregnant people, babies, and their families throughout pregnancy and postpartum.
From the National Council of Indigenous Midwives.
See also the Midwifery - Indigenous Midwifery research guide.
Indigenous Midwifery
- Indigenous maternal health and health services within Canada: a scoping reviewThis review addresses this gap by synthesizing the existing literature on the organizational structure of maternity care, accessibility and delivery of services, and clinical disparities impacting Indigenous maternal health within Canada.
- Reclaiming Birth, Health, and Community: Midwifery in the Inuit Villages of Nunavik, CanadaThis article describes the lnuulitsivik midwifery service and education program, an internationally recognized approach to returning childbirth to the remote Hudson coast communities of Nunavik, the Inuit region of Quebec, Canada. The service is seen as a model of community-based education of Aboriginal midwives, integrating both traditional and modern approaches to care and education.
- Conceptualising cultural safety at an Indigenous-focused midwifery practice in Toronto, Canada: qualitative interviews with Indigenous and non-Indigenous clientsThis study explored how Indigenous and non-Indigenous clients at an urban, Indigenous-focused midwifery practice in Toronto, Canada (Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto, SGMT) conceptualised and experienced culturally safe care.
- Returning birth: The politics of midwifery implementation on First Nations reserves in CanadaThis paper explores the role of midwives in the implementation of an elective birthing programme in one remote First Nation community in Canada, and identifies current barriers and challenges to the practice of midwifery in these settings.
- Aboriginal Midwifery: A Model For ChangeThis paper will discuss indigenous knowledge and epistemologies of health and well-being as essential practices to improving the health status of Aboriginal communities. These methods will be illustrated through the practice of Aboriginal midwifery and birthing practices currently being revitalized in Aboriginal communities.
- National Council of Indigenous Midwives
The National Council of Indigenous Midwives (NCIM) exists to promote excellence in reproductive health care for Inuit, First Nations, and Métis women. Indigenous Midwives enable access to culturally‑safe sexual and reproductive health care for Indigenous families, the return of birth to Indigenous communities, and a reduction in the number of medical evacuations for births in remote areas. - Center for Indigenous MidwiferyWashington-based organization.
- Restoring Midwifery and Birth Workbook - National Council of Indigenous Midwives
This workbook is to help you start the path of restoring midwifery and birth to your community or Nation. It is designed to help you understand and work with some of the issues that are likely to arise and to provide ideas and space for your own reflections. - Indigenous Midwifery Knowledge and Skills: A Framework of CompetenciesThe intent of this document is to provide a competency framework which can be used to start growing and teaching Indigenous midwifery. This document can be adapted as communities and Nations input their own knowledge, traditions and ways.
Pregnancy, birthing, and parenthood
Indigenous experiences of pregnancy and birth by Call Number: PWH T35 N35 2017ISBN: 9781772581355Publication Date: 2017The editors have put together a powerful collection that honours the spirit of pregnancy and birth, and the strength and resilience of Indigenous women and families. By acknowledging the ceremony of birth in relation to contemporary Indigenous issues, such as forced evacuation and water protection, the editors contextualize the layers of meaning embedded in returning birth to Indigenous communities.
Mothers of the Nations by Call Number: Koerner Library, & Okanagan Library - HQ759 .M928 2014ISBN: 9781927335451Publication Date: 2014-10-01This book addresses diverse subjects, including child welfare, Indigenous mothering in curriculum, mothers and traditional foods, intergenerational mothering in the wake of residential schooling, mothering and HIV, urban Indigenous mothering, mothers working the sex trade, adoptive and other mothers, Indigenous midwifery, and more from peoples living in North America, Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, the Philippines and Oceania.
Red medicine : traditional indigenous rites of birthing and healing by Call Number: PWH G66 R43 2012ISBN: 0816529566Publication Date: 2012The book explores how Indigenous knowledge has endured and persisted among peoples with a legacy to Mexico. Gonzales shows how this knowledge is now being reclaimed by Chicanos, Mexican Americans and Mexican Indigenous peoples.- Indigenous women's health book, within the sacred circle : reproductive rights, environmental health, traditional herbs and remedies byCall Number: PWH N38 N35 2003Publication Date: 2003
Intimate integration : a history of the Sixties Scoop and the colonization of Indigenous kinship by Call Number: KX S74 N85 2020ISBN: 9781487500641Publication Date: 2020Intimate Integration utilizes an Indigenous gender analysis to identify the gendered operation of the federal Indian Act and its contribution to Indigenous child removal, over-representation in provincial child welfare systems, and transracial adoption. Specifically, women and children's involuntary enfranchisement through marriage, as laid out in the Indian Act, undermined Indigenous gender and kinship relationships.
- Indigenous maternal health and health services within Canada: a scoping reviewGlobally, there are disparities in access to maternal health care services and equity in maternal health outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. While the literature is growing, it has not been systematically synthesized. This review addresses this gap by synthesizing the existing literature on the organizational structure of maternity care, accessibility and delivery of services, and clinical disparities impacting Indigenous maternal health within Canada.
Birth Evacuations
- Canada’s evacuation policy for pregnant First Nations women: Resignation, resilience, and resistanceOne Health Canada policy, the evacuation policy, requires all First Nations women living on rural and remote reserves to leave their communities between 36 and 38 weeks gestational age and travel to urban centres to await labour and birth. The theme of resignation was epitomized by the quote, "Nobody has a choice." The ability to withstand and endure the evacuation policy despite poor or absent communication and loneliness informed of resilience. Resistance was demonstrated by women who questioned the necessity and requirement of evacuation for labour and birth.