News and Stories

International Day of the Midwife Parliamentary Reception

May 15, 2019 | Ottawa

Healthy, Safe Indigenous Communities: One Birth at a Time

An International Day of the Midwife Parliamentary Reception was hosted by NACM and the Canadian Association of Midwives (CAM) to celebrate and present the transformative work of Indigenous Midwifery in Canada.

CO-HOSTS OF THE EVENT:

• MP Dan Vandal (Saint Boniface, Saint Vital)
• MP Cathy McLeod (Kamloops, Thompson, Cariboo)
• MP Georgina Jolibois (Desnethé, Missinippi, Churchill River)

SPEAKER:

• The Honourable Seamus O’Regan,
  Minister of Indigenous Services

“Lucky are the mother and child who have known the strength and dedication of a midwife.”

NACM Receives the Peter Gillespie Social Justice Award!

April 29, 2019 | Ottawa

Each year, Inter Pares honours the work of a Canadian social justice organization with the Peter Gillespie Social Justice Award — this year’s theme was sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Inter Pares recognized the inspiring work of the National Aboriginal Council of Midwives and Clinic 554 with this year’s Peter Gillespie Social Justice Award. For the first time ever, the selection committee chose two critical organizations to receive the award: one which is working towards the sustainable return of birth to Indigenous communities; and the other which is the only out‑of‑hospital access for abortion services and sole LGBTQ clinic in New Brunswick.

The award was presented in Ottawa, on April 29 at the Inter Pares Activist Fair: Conversations on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. NACM Co‑Chair Claire Dion Fletcher received this award on behalf of NACM.

NACM Represents at the UN!

April 22–25, 2019 | UN Headquarters, New York

The Eighteenth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

NACM Co‑Chair Carol Couchie and Core Leader Cheryllee Bourgeois participated as part of the Canadian Delegation through Indigenous Services Canada at the 18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNFPII).

On April 22, Carol attended a breakfast session honouring Indigenous rights advocate Chief Wilton Littlechild, IPC, as an invited guest of Honourable Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Crown‑Indigenous Relations and His Excellency Mr. Marc‑André Blanchard, the Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations.

On April 23, Cheryllee and Doris, an apprentice midwife from Vilcashuamán, Peru, presented at a side event on preserving the ancestral knowledge of traditional Indigenous midwives: Indigenous midwives are keepers of a wealth of knowledge on sexual and reproductive health!

On April 24, Carol presented as part of a panel on Traditional Knowledge: Generation, Transmission and Protection.

This side‑event was organized by the Trilateral Working Group (Mexico, United States and Canada) and explored the role of Indigenous midwives in improving maternal health for Indigenous women, particularly for women in rural Indigenous communities and their role in transmitting and protecting traditional practices. The event also touched on broader maternal health practices in the context of eradicating violence through connection to culture.

On April 25, Cheryllee spoke during the hearing with Indigenous Peoples:

“The criminalization of Indigenous midwifery is just one way of perpetrating violence against Indigenous women.”