Groups call for midwifery training in Atlantic Canada

Groups representing midwives in Nova Scotia say the key to hiring more of them in Atlantic Canada is to offer training opportunities closer to home.

There is currently no formal midwifery training program in Atlantic Canada. In Nova Scotia, the province funds 16 positions, but it hasn't been able to fill two temporary positions. The president for the Association of Nova Scotia Midwives told the standing committee on community services it's because all the midwives in Nova Scotia are employed.

"There's around 2,000 midwives working across Canada, so there's not necessarily a lack of midwives in the country," Jessica MacDonald told the committee on Tuesday. "Obviously we'd love to see that number grow, but really it's the Atlantic region that's suffering because we don't have education opportunities here."

Midwives provide primary care to families throughout pregnancy, labour, birth and the postpartum and newborn period. In 2021, MacDonald said only five per cent of births in Nova Scotia were midwife-led, "which is significantly lower than other jurisdictions across Canada." MacDonald said midwives attend 20 to 25 per cent of births in B.C. and Ontario.

MacDonald said the top reason for admission to hospital in Nova Scotia is birth. She said an economic evaluation of midwifery in Nova Scotia in 2018 concluded the field "represents value for money when compared to maternity-related services provided by family physicians."

Despite the overwhelming demand for care, approximately half of individuals who request midwife care do not have access due to the lack of government investment in the profession, MacDonald said.

Lindsay Peach, the executive director of Tajikeimɨk, an organization that helps Mi'kmaw communities create and deliver their own health and wellness programs, urged the province to set up a school to train midwives in Nova Scotia.

Reviving Mi'kmaw birth practices

Peach said anyone who currently wants to be a midwife must leave the province to train.

"As a result, there are only two Mi'kmaw midwives, neither of them are currently practising midwifery in Nova Scotia," Peach said. "Providing women and babies with Indigenous midwives is an act of reconciliation. We need to revive Mi'kmaw birth practices now or they could be lost by future generations."

Tanya Penney, the senior executive director of Nova Scotia's Department of Health and Wellness, told the committee that in October 2022, Nova Scotia signed on with the other Atlantic provinces to conduct a feasibility study for a "midwifery educational institution in the Maritimes."

Penney said she hopes "that work will be done relatively soon. Newfoundland is leading the work and Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and New Brunswick are supporting it."