Call for Interest: Expanding Community-based Indigenous Midwifery Education

NICM is seeking communities interested in participating in a project that aims to expand opportunities to community-based Indigenous midwifery education. The project aims to bring midwifery education opportunities as close to home as possible to aspiring Indigenous midwifery students.

Applications for the enrollment in this project are for 2021/2022.

Where there are services, there will be education

Our vision inspired us to begin to articulate the core competencies of Indigenous midwifery. This is a key component in our aim to increase the pathways to education, decolonize training experiences, remove funding barriers to midwifery practice, and support retention.

There are many paths to becoming a midwife. Education is an essential part of restoring midwifery to Indigenous peoples across Canada. This knowledge must be brought home to our communities.

All midwifery education programs provide a combination of classroom‑based or academic learning and, clinical placements or apprenticeship in midwifery clinics. Midwifery education includes courses from the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. Teaching methods include lectures, seminars, laboratories, distance learning and mentorship. Regardless of the program you enter, midwifery education takes place in many settings, including university or college campuses, midwifery clinics, hospitals, and birth centres. Currently, most midwifery programs expect that you will be willing to relocate for parts of your education program.

Midwifery education gives students the opportunity to develop both the hands-on clinical skills and theoretical knowledge necessary to be primary caregivers for people, babies, and their families throughout pregnancy, birth and the first six weeks postpartum.

COMMUNITY-BASED PROGRAMS

There are currently two community-based programs, offered in three Indigenous communities in Canada. For more information, please contact the programs directly.


ONTARIO

Tsi Non:we lonnakeratstha Ona:grahsta’ Aboriginal Midwifery Training Program

The Tsi Non:we lonnakeratstha Ona: grahsta’ Aboriginal Midwifery Training Program is three years in length, and consists of tutorials that address Indigenous women’s unique health issues. The program combines western obstetrical practices and standards with traditional Indigenous practices and standards. All training components are completed at the Maternal and Child Centre with Aboriginal midwife instructors.

QUEBEC

Inuulitsivik Midwife Training Program

The program is an academic and clinical education program for Inuit women working in their own communities on the Hudson and Ungava Coasts of Nunavik (Northern Quebec). The program uses a modular, competency-based curriculum. The program emphasizes learning in ways appropriate to Inuit culture, including learning in the Inuktitut language, and focuses on the role of the midwife in community health, especially in the areas of sexual health and well woman care. This program is offered through maternity programs in health centres on the Hudson and Ungava coasts in Quebec.

UNIVERSITY-BASED PROGRAMS

The midwifery education program is a direct entry (no previous degree or health care training required), four‑year baccalaureate program. There are six university‑based midwifery education programs available in Canada. Each program administers exams recognized by their respective provincial regulatory bodies.

McMaster University

Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning & Discovery
(MDCL) Second Fl., 2210
1280 Main Street West
Hamilton, ON  L8S 4K1
905 525-9140, extension 26654

McMaster Midwifery Education Program

This program is offered in English only.


Toronto Metropolitan University

350 Victoria Street
Toronto, ON  M5B 2K3
416 979-5104

email: jcabanat@ryerson.ca

Midwifery Education Program

This program is offered in English only. This program offers both full-time and part-time studies.

Université du Québec à Trois‑Rivières

3351, boul. des Forges
Trois-Rivières, QC  G9A 5H7
819 376-5011, extension 4065

email:  sage.femme@uqtr.ca

Baccalauréat en pratique sage‑femme

This program is offered in French only.

University of British Columbia

Suite 320 – 5950 University Boulevard
Vancouver, BC  V6T 1Z3
604 822-0352

email: info@midwifery.ubc.ca

Midwifery Program

This program is offered in English only.

Mount Royal University

4825 Mount Royal Gate SW
Calgary, AB  T3E 6K6
403 440-8574
Toll Free: 1-888-240-7201

email: midwifery@mtroyal.ca

 Bachelor of Midwifery

This program is offered in English only.

University of Manitoba

College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences
Helen Glass Centre for Nursing, 89 Curry Place
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2 Canada
Phone: 204-474-7452
Toll Free: 1-800-432-1960 ext 7452

Bachelor of Midwifery Program

 

General inquiries: nursing@umanitoba.ca

Student Advisor / Registration Services
Lauren Ivonchuk, BA
204-474-9955
Lauren.Ivonchuk@umanitoba.ca

The student advisor will be able to guide on an individual level whatever questions a student might have.

This program is offered in English only.

Métis midwife Nathalie Pambrun weighs baby.