More than just numbers: The value of returning birth to Indigenous communities evident in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory
Date: June 15, 2021
The ceremony of birth is being reawakened in First Nations as well as in urban and rural Indigenous communities. Bringing birth home is the focus of the work of the Indigenous Midwifery team at the Association of Ontario Midwives, the 35 Indigenous midwives and 40 Indigenous students and apprentices within various educational environments across the province. Two midwifery apprentices, Tewahséhtha Brant and Iekonsiio Brant, have been on their midwifery education journey for some time now. Related through marriage, both are members of the Kanyen’kehá:ka nation at Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. The pair study and provide services to fellow members of their home community as well as to Indigenous clients in local communities through Kenhtè:ke Midwives.
In Memory of Dr. Murray Enkin
Date: June 11, 2021
The following tribute was written by Faculty from the McMaster University and Ryerson University Midwifery Education Programs. It was originally published on the McMaster University Research Centre website on June 10, 2021. Dr. Murray Enkin’s family announced his passing on June 6, 2021 at age 97. They expressed on behalf of all who knew him that “The world has changed with Murray gone.”
Call to action in solidarity with Indigenous communities re: Kamloops Residential School
Date: June 1, 2021
To Indigenous midwives, families and communities: our hearts and our commitment to action are with you. **Content warning: the message below is written to settler midwife members and discusses harms perpetrated on Indigenous people and communities, including through residential schools.**
"There is still a lot of work to be done": Interview with AOM Vice President Bounmy Inthavong
Date: May 5, 2021
May 5 is the International Day of the Midwife, a day to celebrate the hard work and dedication of the world’s midwives; to advocate for increased access to quality midwifery training around the world as an investment in sexual, reproductive and newborn health; and to recognize midwifery leaders for…
#MidwiferyDataMatters: Supporting midwives to enter and access quality BORN data
Date: April 13, 2021
Have you ever wished you could quantify the many non-pharmaceutical pain management mechanisms midwives use to support their clients during labour? Or perhaps you are curious to know how many consults or transfers of care occurred due to hospital protocol rather than midwives’ clinical judgement? The AOM has heard these concerns and as of April 5, 2021, the BORN Information System (BIS) has begun collecting this and other crucial, midwifery-specific information.
April 7, 2021, is Equal Pay Day!
Date: March 24, 2021
Through our work with the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition, the AOM is preparing for Equal Pay Day (EPD) on April 7, 2021. EPD marks how long into the year, on average, women must work to earn the same amount men earned the previous year. Women with disabilities face a 56% gap; immigrant women, a 55% gap; Indigenous women, a 45% gap; and racialized women, a 40% gap (source: Ontario Equal Pay Coalition).
Closing the gap: Why Ontario midwives' legal action matters
Date: March 10, 2021
Did you know that when midwifery was regulated in Ontario in 1994, the AOM and the Ministry of Health carried out a rough pay equity analysis which resulted in a relative positioning of midwifery work against the lowest paid physician in a community health centre (CHC)? The CHC physician was a comp…
Congratulations to past AOM President Elana Johnson, YWCA Women of Excellence Honouree
Date: February 25, 2021
The Association of Ontario Midwives would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Elana Johnson, YWCA of South Western Ontario's Women of Excellence Honouree in the Health, Science and Technology category. From the YWCA website: "Elana Johnson’s contribution to Ontario midwifery…
We need midwives who are unapologetically anti-racist
Date: February 25, 2021
The recent MANA President’s Report by Sarita Bennett, President of the Midwives Alliance of North America, was incredibly troubling and painful to read. In it, Bennett recounts her experience of providing health care as a rural emergency room physician to a community of white supremacists, during which she “learned about their lives, mindsets, ideologies and plans, not so much as individuals, because that wasn’t important to them – but rather, about what it meant to live the neo-Nazi doctrine.” The post was particularly hurtful and re-traumatizing to many Indigenous, Black and racialized midwives and birth workers who continually navigate through various forms of racism and oppression at great cost to the integrity of their personal well-being, and to their time that could be used to further other work.
Department profile: Health-Care Equity, Quality & Human Rights
Date: February 16, 2021
Following the 2019 study, Experiences of Racism among Ontario BIPOC Midwives and Students in Midwifery Education and Profession, the AOM has engaged with initiatives to advance racial equity in the profession. To ensure our commitment to dismantle racism is prioritized and maintained over the years…