We cannot afford to have a decrease in indigenous midwifery. In fact, we need to be focusing all of our investments on growing the workforce of indigenous health care providers to fulfill our...Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This will be devastating.
We've seen Joyce Echaquan, and we're hearing the call for Joyce's principle out in British Columbia, where I'm located. We've recently looked at the “In Plain Sight” report. The impact of racism on indigenous families is devastating, and it's unacceptable. We cannot afford to lose any of our indigenous midwifery practitioners. In fact, at this time we need to be funding and innovating so that we can increase the number of indigenous midwives available to provide culturally safe care where and when it's needed.