Status of Women committee  I am not a member of the consortium. However, I was a member of the advisory council of the consortium when I was a student. The consortium members are leaders within the midwifery education program not the professional—

Status of Women committee  I would say as a starting point it would be valuable to reach out to the Ministry of Health, which manages the Ontario midwifery program, and to the Ministry of Colleges and Universities in Ontario. Work with them to develop a cohesive plan that looks long term. At the federal l

Status of Women committee  Yes, that's correct. The federal government was good enough to provide funding for our province for pandemic pay. Unfortunately, in the divvying up of that pandemic pay, despite midwives meeting all of the criteria for essential workers who are eligible, they were not paid out,

Status of Women committee  I would say that the cutting of the program—which was a success by all measures—is an example of what happens when decisions are made without consideration of the subtle impacts of gender bias. Ultimately, this slows the growth of a profession that already is growing slowly and i

Status of Women committee  I suppose I can start. Susan and Kirsty, perhaps you can chime in, from working most directly with indigenous students. My practice in downtown Toronto, even though I live in Scarborough, Ontario, is Seventh Generation Midwives. We work with an urban indigenous population, but

Status of Women committee  I would say that the impact has been extremely discouraging for midwives. Midwifery has been legislated in Ontario for 27 years, and for 17 of those 27 years, midwifery compensation was frozen even for the cost of living. To have a midwife with the clinical and emergency skills t

Status of Women committee  I'm sorry, but I didn't hear the last part of your question.

Status of Women committee  The Association of Ontario Midwives has prioritized as one of its strategic goals addressing equity within the profession, with an awareness of racism, issues of a lack of diversity, and equity in the bigger health care system. Within the midwifery education program, that is also

Status of Women committee  If I may, I will add to the member's question. While there are fewer barriers around education for midwives to take their education credentials across the country, there are structural framework issues that need to be considered that can help or hinder a midwife's ability to set

Status of Women committee  Unfortunately, the Association of Ontario Midwives doesn't collect data specifically for regions. What we do have through our managed program with the Ontario Ministry of Health are registrations with the college and funding via transfer payment agencies and registered practices.

Status of Women committee  Good evening, Madam Chair, and committee members. My name is Jasmin Tecson. I'm a registered midwife, and I speak to you today as the president of the Association of Ontario Midwives, the largest regional association of midwives in Canada. We are proud to be a part of a profess