Canada has been unique in the modern era for limiting midwives from providing sexual health and perinatal care to families. Prohibitions on midwifery practice were finally lifted in Prince Edward Island in 2024, yet midwives’ scope of practice continues to be restricted in most jurisdictions. The Canadian Midwifery Regulators Council recently recommended midwives should be able to practice their full scope. Our midwifery pilot project, located in the City of Victoria, British Columbia, implemented this recommendation in 2023-24. In this webinar, we will demonstrate the benefits of integrating midwifery into a primary healthcare clinic and the continued challenges midwives and their teams face in securing salaried employment long-term. We focus on the specialized cultural and clinical skillset that Indigenous registered midwives in particular bring to primary care, and the life-saving outcomes that can occur for youth clients if inter-professional collaboration and cooperation are well-established.
Featured Speakers:
Cecilia Benoit, PhD
Dr. Cecilia Benoit (she/her) is a Scientist at the Canadian Institute of Substance Use Research and Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Victoria. Her research focuses on social equities in employment, health and health care for people who face structural disadvantage and unfair treatment in Canadian society. These groups include midwives; childbearing women desiring access to non-medical health care; street-involved youth in transition to adulthood; pregnant women confronting substance use, poverty and housing insecurity; and adults who sell sexual services.
Andrea Mellor, PhD
Andrea Mellor is a post-doctoral fellow and Michael Smith Research Trainee at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria. Her research centres on community-based participatory projects that focus on co-designing structural interventions to improve the health and wellness of marginalized populations.
Moderator:
Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD
Ivy Lynn Bourgeault, PhD, is a Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies at the University of Ottawa and the University Research Chair in Gender, Diversity and the Professions. She leads the Canadian Health Workforce Network, the Empowering Women Leaders in Health initiative and co-leads the Team Primary Care: Training for Transformation project. Dr. Bourgeault has garnered an international reputation for her research on the health workforce, particularly from a gender lens. She was inducted into the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences in September 2016 and received the 2016/17 University of Ottawa Award for Excellence in Research.
FEES:
CCHL members: FREE
Non-members: $40.00