b'TRADITIONAL BIRTHINGIN THE COMMUNITY wanted to have more children. Eightbeen made around Indigenous birthing Ellen Blais, midwife and Executiveyears later, she became pregnant with herrights due to the love and devotion of Director of the NCIM and survivor of thesecond daughter: this time, she had anthe many Indigenous women, midwives, Sixties Scoop, was born to the OneidaIndigenous midwife. I was really luckyallies and mothers. The thinking around Nation of the Thames through a birthto have an Indigenous midwife, sheIndigenous midwifery and the mother that she never met. After findingreflects. My whole experi- practice around Indigenous her birth family in her thirties, Blais beganence during the prenatalmidwifery is like a thread thinking about how she could give back toperiod, labour and birth,you pull on thats her community: Whats really importantand postpartum wasconnected to every-is teaching and learning about ourcompletely differentthing else in our reproductive health. A lot of that has beenthan anything Icommunities, lost in community. Theres not a balancehad experienced.she says. there. We feel a lot of death, especiallyI felt that having in those fly-in communities, but were notan IndigenousCook believes seeing babies being born and nobodysmidwife allowedwe are living in learning about it and how to take care ofme to receive morea special period your body and all of the roles and respon- holistic care. Sheof rejuvenation, sibilities around it.was able to debriefdirectly guided by my whole previousIndigenous women. In the 19th century, the Canadianbirth experience [and]You really do rebuild government began forcibly evacuatingshe took the time tothe culture from the Indigenous women to federally runexplain what was happeningwomen and our mitochon-Mohawk Native American drial lineages: through the hospitals as part of a larger assimilationso that I didnt have so muchMidwife & Activist Katsi Cookcampaign for Indigenous peoples. Blaisfear and anxiety aroundgrandmothers. It shows us the points to the stories of Indigenous peopleaccessing care.power of strengthening the dying alone in settler-colonial healthcarewomen in our communities systems due to systemic racism, subjectionBrown ended up having aand strengthening the to child welfare, birth alerts, and lackbeautiful, unmedicatedindividual woman of postpartum support for Indigenousbirth. The experi- herself, she says. women as the present-day continuation ofence impacted her those efforts. Birth is a family event, Blaisso greatly that sheCook and other notes. People are having to be isolatedtook mainstreamElders are working and alone when they go down south,doula trainingwith the younger sometimes for many weeks, before theirthree monthsgeneration to babies are born. And then theyre just sentlater, and in 2010bring birthing home afterwards on their own. she began her ownpractices, and the journey throughunderstanding of Blais believes that if we can get midwiferyan Indigenousinfant development, back in the community, women willmidwifery course. back to communities. be safer, and families will find balanceThis time of reconcilia-again. What we see, she says, is bettertion begins with our own self, health outcomes and better support forINTERCONNECTEDMidwife & NCIM Executive she says. It begins with under-parenting and pregnant IndigenousTHREAD Director Ellen Blais standing what happened to families. Families stay intact. Youre lessKatsi Cook, a member ofus and what the pathways are likely to have to have a childrens aidthe St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, was bornto use our cultural superlatives: to bring social worker just walk in there and takeand raised on the traditional territorymore light into our lives, less anger, less your child if youve got a midwife standingof the Akwesasne. As a midwife, she hashatred, more love, and more sense of there, she explains. seen firsthand the progress that hasconnectedness to one another. SAFE SPACEFor Melissa Brown, Anishinaabe NavahoMultiple locations Healthy Environmentand registered midwife, Indigenous midwifery is very different from main-Communal AccommodationsAlcohol Freestream midwifery in that we provide Independent AccommodationsDrug Freetruly culturally safe care because we are First Nations, Inuit, MetisRent geared to incomeIndigenous and have lived experience and Affordableunderstand the barriers and challenges Market Rentthat Indigenous families face while also Bachelor, one-bedroom, two-bedroomintegrating Indigenous ways of learning Wait listand knowing into the prenatal, labour and244 Church Street, Toronto, ON M5B 1Z3birth, and postpartum experience.Tel: 416-975-5451Fax: 416-975-0089Brown gave birth to her first daughter when she was 18, and the experienceNISHNAWBE HOMES INC.was traumatic; it left her unsure if she Ontario Native Womens Association41'