Status of Women committee  I do understand that the federal government has been hesitant to speak because universities are a provincial matter, but when we talk northern, francophone and indigenous, I do not see that as a provincial matter, particularly when we talk about indigenous nations that [Technical

Status of Women committee  This is exactly what we're seeing. We're seeing many people dream about being a midwife who may not have dreamt of it before. We had a real intention in having these mandated populations and creating midwives for these communities. Many of the news stories over the last couple

Status of Women committee  The university in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, yes, they graduate about 20 midwives a year. Quebec needs those 20 midwives. In their application process, you must be a resident of Quebec to apply to the midwifery program in Quebec, so what you're saying is true. When there are francop

Status of Women committee  It feels like both. I think you've said that it's a female profession that's under crisis, females serving females. We're talking about women's health care here, which is chronically underfunded, recovering often from previous cuts. Like I said, we were recently engaged, or I sh

Status of Women committee  I think the financial aspect is really important to address. The envelope was equally split three ways between Laurentian, McMaster and Ryerson, but only Laurentian was required to offer the program in two languages with that very same amount of money. We recently made a request

Status of Women committee  As a terminated faculty member and ex-director of the school, I have no role. I'm unemployed with no severance. I'm not connected. How do I have any say on where a third school would be or on anything about midwifery at this point? I'm sorry. I kind of lost your question a littl

Status of Women committee  It touched a bit on indigenous or francophone—from language to spiritual—but we also know there is a recognition part as well. We have been engaging in our anti-racism work, looking at our school itself and at our graduates, and recognizing that we need Black midwives, midwives

Status of Women committee  I'll add a fine point to my answer, and that is imagining someone in labour. Take me, for example. I can speak French fairly well, but not when I'm sick. If we put that woman in labour, what can we even compare that to? Then to be expected to receive services in a second langua

Status of Women committee  I think there needs to be recognition that it takes money to grow a program. To grow a health cadre—to bring back a workforce that was eliminated for 100 years—is going to take investment and it's going to take more than four years or any change in parties. Twenty-eight years, as

Status of Women committee  Certainly that is our dream. That's what the Canadian Association of Midwives would say: a midwife in every community. We know we're most successful when we train people from the community to return to the community and when we remove people from community for as little time as p

Status of Women committee  Burnout is probably the biggest challenge, and we're seeing that now. A recent study said two-thirds of B.C. midwives were considering leaving. There was some participation of Ontario midwives, but burnout is certainly an issue. There has been austerity in the health care syste

Status of Women committee  Those are numbers that I'm not prepared with right in front of my hands as I'm sitting here. It's 20% of babies in Ontario. It's not the highest in the country. In B.C., midwives are delivering 25% and have probably exceeded that by now, whereas in provinces with smaller numbers

Status of Women committee  It's made the work of midwifery harder, but it has introduced that choice for people who want choice of birthplace. There are people who did not feel that during this—

Status of Women committee  The question was on the effect of COVID on midwifery clients. It introduced more choice. We are the only care providers delivering babies at home, and we have the evidence to show that it is a safe choice. It was a choice made by increasing numbers of people as they were giving b

Status of Women committee  It's done province by province. We have regulatory colleges, and we have the College of Midwives of Ontario that regulates our graduates. We've recently launched a national accreditation program for midwifery schools, so now there is that national oversight around the quality of