"In their full power": Long-awaited comfort arrives in Attawapiskat
Date: June 23, 2020
Christine Roy, a French midwife with Abenaki roots, heads up Neepeeshowan Midwives. The practice is the only one on the James Bay coast in Attawapiskat, a little over 1200 kilometres north of the city of Toronto. If you Google the directions to Attawapiskat on your smartphone, the app will indicate that there is no way to get there. Of course, there is. The journey will take planes, trains and automobiles. It is a definite challenge to live in the north, as well as to run a midwifery practice in the remote fly-in community.
"They will strengthen the ranks": Next generation of midwives is learning through a pandemic
Date: June 16, 2020
Karline Wilson-Mitchell, DNP, MSN, CNM, RM, RN, is the Director of the Midwifery Education Program (MEP) at Ryerson University. Jacqueline St Bernard Hitz, RM, Communications Officer at the AOM, reached out to Karline for her take on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the MEP.
For Ontario midwifery students, COVID-19 imposes new barriers
Date: June 9, 2020
Maha Maryam is a midwifery student at Ryerson University. Maha is actively involved in student advocacy, including as the student representative on the Canadian Association of Midwives board of directors, as well as a member of the Student Midwives Association of Canada (SMAC/ACEPS), the Associatio…
In the spirit of confronting anti-Black racism and therefore, in the spirit of love
Date: June 3, 2020
Sojourner San Vicente, a Black midwifery student, shares her experiences in processing the recent events and her vision for an anti-racist midwifery profession.
Black Lives Matter—confronting anti-Black racism
Date: June 3, 2020
The acts of anti-Black racism that we are witnessing are not isolated incidents and they have deep impact on our community: they are felt heavily by our Black midwives, students and clients, and as a profession we have a responsibility to confront it. The recent display of anti-Black racism in the …
In the face of the pandemic, midwives adapt, respond, persist
Date: May 29, 2020
While so many life events have been postponed as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, babies continue to be born around the clock, making perinatal care an essential service that cannot be put on pause. But it’s not business as usual for midwives in Ontario, who continue to provide primary car…
President Jasmin Tecson – PPE, pandemic pay and pay equity
Date: May 6, 2020
Jasmin Tecson, midwife at Seventh Generation Midwives in Toronto became president of the AOM board of directors on May 5, 2020. The AOM asked Jasmin some questions, so that midwives far and wide could get to know her better.
President Elizabeth Brandeis - incredible time of change, progress and challenge for us as midwives
Date: May 6, 2020
Dear Midwives, This is not how I imagined saying goodbye. Nothing about this time is anything any of us could have imagined. And yet, here we are, carrying on, being resourceful, being resilient and being midwives during a global pandemic. ....
Giinwi (before colonization) Gaazhi (what we used to do) Maamwiziying (together) Ndaadzikeying* (to assist in giving life)
Date: March 4, 2020
Improving access to Indigenous midwifery: The Association of Ontario Midwives will convene a gathering of Indigenous communities on March 6-7, 2020 to envision concrete pathways to improve access to Indigenous midwifery...
Experiences of racism among Ontario BIPOC midwives and students
Date: March 4, 2020
Canadian study looks at racism in midwifery: In 2019, a research study was conducted by staff members Feben Aseffa, RM, MHM and Lwam Mehari, MPH to understand how racism manifests in midwifery and what solutions need to be implemented to dismantle its prevalence...