Status of Women committee  It is the favourite part of my job.

Status of Women committee  Alix, maybe you can speak to that with your ICM focus right now.

Status of Women committee  In B.C., there are two provincially funded programs that are looking at trying to sustain rural obstetrical programs, by providing mentorship, providing access to training that's close to home, building confidence and building the competence in providing emergency services. They'

Status of Women committee  Can I add something to that?

Status of Women committee  There are 25 vacancy calls in Fraser Health for midwifery positions, and that has never happened—ever. We've lost 25 midwives in one community where there were 100.

Status of Women committee  You bet. It is my wheelhouse. That's the evidence-informed practice for midwifery care. We have evidence that supports the fact that the role of the midwife contributes to several decreases in interventions, caesarean sections being one of them. We think it's the continuity of

Status of Women committee  I can jump in a bit here. We have a system of risk assessment and we make sure that we individualize the care to meet the risk and the needs of the person. We always have our antennae up. We're always checking the environment. We're always situationally aware, and we pivot cons

Status of Women committee  Thank you very much for the opportunity to answer that. The answer is, not enough. We have an exodus of midwives, a hemorrhage of midwives from the profession. We're trying to negotiate system changes. We have very little flexibility in how midwives can work. Some of the workin

Status of Women committee  I mentioned that it's also been exhausting for our teachers. The midwives are so consumed with the extra work that goes into keeping safe: maintaining their safety and ensuring the safety of the people they're caring for and the colleagues they work with and their families. There

Status of Women committee  Perhaps the best way to deliver an education program that reduces barriers for participation is to distribute it to the communities. We're trying it in British Columbia. We're distributing programs to the communities so that students are coming together as a cohort to learn over

Status of Women committee  Can I go first, Alix? I'll take that on. I serve a population in the Fraser Valley that holds deep religious beliefs, one of which involves the non-interventional approach. They choose to birth at home and, because of their strong beliefs, won't accept any interventions that oth

Status of Women committee  There are several initiatives that could be undertaken if the scope of practice were enhanced to help make better use of the funding we have. Right now we have siloed health care systems, and midwives who have capacity to provide a more comprehensive service could be bulked into

Status of Women committee  I agree with Alix. There are so many examples I can recount where my lack of understanding and knowledge of their culture and their community has had such a detrimental effect, I think, in not being able to meet their needs. That's not just indigenous people, but many people. I t

Status of Women committee  Right now there's only one program in Canada that offers French-language instruction, and you have to be a resident of Quebec to attend it. It's at the University of Quebec at Trois-Rivières—it's Sherbrooke, rather. It's limited to people who live in that province, so with the cl

Status of Women committee  They have 24 seats a year at UQTR that they admit to, and they would all be French-speaking people. Those would be the only seats available in Canada for French-language instruction for those people living in Quebec.