Ancestral Roots

Indigenous midwives were once a cornerstone of every Indigenous community. It has only been in the last hundred years that this practice has been taken away from our communities. Indigenous midwives were silenced and ordered to stop their important work. The silencing of Indigenous midwifery occurs as a result of colonization and the ongoing medicalization and systemic racism in the Canadian health care system.

The knowledge and cultural practices held by the midwife is fading fast from indigenous communities. Many communities solely rely on western medicine. Being separated from cultural teachings and support can sever the mothers mind, body and spirit experience during pregnancy birth and post-partum.

According to the 2021 Census, more than 1.8 million people in Canada identify themselves as an Indigenous person, which represents 5% of Canada's total population. The teachings are specific to just one nation or group. Any woman or family interested in the traditional knowledge is invited to welcome indigenous teachings into their birth plan. This initiative and set of resources is available and applicable to every woman looking for traditional fertility, people looking to expand their families and resources for woman who have been abused. 

By preserving oral teachings, we can converse that band or nations legacy and share that knowledge to heal families, mothers and babies heal in a way western medicine is lacking. 

The original loss of this knowledge is western medicine and governments having children born in hospitals with limited family and supports available. Within this aspect is a lack of cultural awareness. For example, if an indigenous mother or family requested to take the placenta home, medical staff might advise against it or judge the family with a bias opinion they mother would eat the placenta. In this case, a tradition is to plant the placenta underneath a newly planted tree. The tree is chosen for different aspects the mother would want to wish for her child. A strong oak, a fruitful pear tree, a sheltering pine tree, and so on. From the app, if the placenta tree tradition was chosen, there would be a separate report generated for the medical staff to explain this teaching and how they can assist the mother in determining her own health care. 

I worked in a hospital for 5 years and seen medical staff make unfair, uninformed, inappropriate, unprofessional judgements against the medical treatment of indigenous people. While there are a small number of medical professionals who maybe intolerant of indigenous culture, those professionals still exist. Providing medically focused cultural awareness would be a huge leap in closing the gap to create a unified and supportive future.

This program can be scaled for use in America, and worldwide. By taking the template, it can be filled with other relevant resources from other specific regions. 

The field research gathered and collected for indigenous birthing rites will be posted in an app. The preservation of culture is key to being able to share it. To promote culturally informed mental and physical health and wellness services for Indigenous community members anywhere in Canada. 

This research will be set out in phases. Phase one will be to touch on 3 of Canadas indigenous identities, First Nations, Inuit and Métis then by severity of losing practices. For some communities, they are one generation away from losing stories of all midwife experiences. 

A mother, family or guardian can review the app either by topic, location and tribal association. Within those areas will sets of traditional techniques, roles and responsibilities or traditional knowledge to be incorporated into the pregnancy, birthing plan or after care. Once items have been selected, 2 reports will have been generated. Once for the mother, family or guardian and the other for medical care staff. 

The Pregnancy and Birth Plan Summery for the mother, family or guardian would include all the information as seen previously in the app. This can include directions for how to perform ceremony's, specific dates and times to complete a task, or even a recommended music play list for traditional prayer songs. From my previous example of planting a placenta under a tree, the full list of tree attributers that would correspond to the wishes of the family would be listed to choose from and reference. As the tree grows and is nourished by the placenta, so is the child is nourished by the traits of the tree, and they grow together, both as living beings with shared DNA. 

The second summery called Medical Support and Care During Pregnancy and Birth is for attending medical staff. based on the content selected, there are corresponding explanations of culture or what kind of care can be provided to the mother and family to complete her birth plan goals. The cultural component is very important. This cultural awareness education provided is very important to try close the gap of racism in medical settings. The audience for the second summery are the medical professionals and attached to the chart. The Ob / Gyn, Nurses, Doctor, Unit Clerk, Midwives will have access and understanding to the wishes of the mother. There are many different cultures and aspects that people want to celebrate yet find it difficult to explain or find support from their care providers. Having the Medical Support and Care During Pregnancy and Birth summery will guide staff for the wishes of the client. 

The target audience is anyone who wishes they had closer ties to their indigenous heritage, with the specific focus of guidance and support during pregnancy, birth and after care for the mother and child. The people who can benefit the most are people who are urban indigenous. they are people who, for one situation or another, live in a city or town that is off reserve. People who live on reserve or traditional lands will also benefit from the catalog of traditional practices from as many nations as possible. 

The mental and spiritual support cannot be under rated. If the mother feels she is as prepared as possible, and has the support of community, anything can be possible. Each pregnancy, and background for the mother is different in each situation. 

Each community where I can research will be provided a professionally printed book with all research captured for the community or nation to use and share. They will also have access to the app with information from across Canada. 

This idea and passion came from my own families experience.

My great grandmother was the last traditional midwife in our band. My aunt was the last person to be born in a traditional setting. Everyone afterward was born in a hospital. Away from family and culture, subject to racism and criticism of life choices. 

While my mother was born in a hospital, she was at least born with an elder present who named her Anawashea, "Stubborn One - 3 feathers". She caused some grief during the delivery, and the elder wanted my mother to channel her passions into productive ways. Being stubborn wasn't a problem, knowing when and where to use that was her lesson. 

I was born in the city, 494.4 km away from our culture. While I am indigenous and welcomed by community. I am not applicable to certain cultural rights because my mother was unaware of how to make sure that happens for me. While my great grandmother was alive at the time of my birth, she couldn't travel 5.5 hours for my birth. When my mother was taken during the 60's scoop, her access to culture and elders was also taken from her. 

To be able to capture and preserve traditions is what can give encouragement to have these practices come back. It's my generation to being the resurgence of culture and traditional ways back into daily life. My mother did the best she raising me could from what she remembered from her childhood. 

Since growing up urban indigenous, I have experienced how difficult it can be to access traditions while living away and how important it is to preserve them. I see them slipping away often in my work. I am on the Board of Directors for First Light, Native Friendship Center. A Non-Profit Organization with over 300 members who utilize more than 20 programs. First Light is how I am able to give back to the indigenous community around me, even if they are not my direct community. We are all one. I have been voted by the members of the organization into the Board of Directors for over 5 years. Proving I have the support from the community around me and I am fulfilling their wishes. 

I have the lived experience, the corporate experience and the ability to connect with community. Humbly, this is what I can offer to indigenous people across Canada and hopefully the world. 

An app has been built through Wix. The concept stage was selected as I don't have experience in adding or editing an app, its been a slow process. While the utility of what will be used is basic. There is a learning curve. 

Resources or coaching in app building would be appreciated. 

There are about 30 pages of research from to be sorted and added to the app. 

I broke down the resources required into difference sections below: 

Market Barriers: Advertising and branding are strategies I would like to be coached on. I have ideas but the success of the project will lie within experts in the field and professional recommendations I absolutely welcome. 

Technical: Execution of the app. Being able to have the research presented in a functional capacity on the app and for the back-end reports to be summered. An additional function I would like to include, is an area for information to be send in for publishing. If bands or nations would like to have their cultural practices listed, they can submit their research to us for listing. 

Legal: Business planning and best use of business types. I would appreciate advise on how best to run and manage this idea as a part of a business. Either speaking at hospitals for medically relevant cultural awareness seminars or shifting from a sole proprietorship to a non-profit. 

Cultural: Networking and connections to community is where this project needs to be successful. Either by being introduced to Nation leaders, or people introducing me to their knowledge keepers for interviews. 

Financial: 

• I would like for a donation or contribute a monetary value to the person, band or nation who welcomes me to participate and record their traditions. 
• Financial aid would also be used for transportation to live births I am able to attend in person. Being able to bear witness of the power of the ceremonies to document their use for record is a key asset to this initiative. Some aspects will be interviews by phone as possible. 
• I believe some concepts and values are best presented in art. I would like to commission an indigenous artist to provide art for the icons, and each section of the app. Welcome Page, Fertility, Pregnancy, Birth, Post Partum, Resources, ect... 
• If able, I would commission a professional to coach me on building the app or for the app to be built. 
• Editing. I would appreciate an editor to review my research before being published. 

An example of program execution and my most recent achievement was with my work as a Committee Member with First Light when Justice Minister of Canada Minister David Lemetti requested my consultation regarding the outline and content of the federal governments UNDRIP Program. The Minister reached out based on the Calls for Change proposal entitled “Building Trust, Restoring Confidence: MMIWG recommendations for Strengthening Police Oversight in Newfoundland and Labrador” I directed with a team in research, planning and writing. This was presented to the Government of Newfoundland, the RCMP and Royal Newfoundland Constabulary as well as the Assembly Hall of the United Nations for Rights of Indigenous peoples.

I want to use my voice and experience to help as many indigenous people define success for themselves and live their life with dignity. 

As culture and society changes all over the world in many aspects, Indigenous culture remains within the core value of oral tradition. However, only having knowledge handed down in person, from person to person, is where and how this knowledge is dying out. 

Preservation of the past and old ways is impetrative to document and share. 

Once cataloged and shared on an app, anyone with interest in using the traditions now has access. They are not limited by oral teachings or time and space. It will always be there for people to use and share. 

There has not been a greater time in Canadian history where indigenous people are proud of who they are, and are connecting to their heritage.

The app will be removing barriers like access to physical locations of reserves to access culture and heritage. Woman and families will a small peice of traditional comforts as they themselves are birthed into their life phase of motherhood. 

An aspect that is hard to measure is the cultural education for medical staff. I doubt many people know the traditional names of the indigenous communities around them, let alone the traditional medical practices. Sharing traditional customs with medical professionals will be breaking barriers in a way that has not been done before. 

The impact goal is to preserve the birthing practices and traditional midwives duties of as many indigenous communities as possible. Residential schools and the 60’s scoop took heritage and replaced knowledge with western ideas of what should be.  Some nations are only 1 or 2 generations away from losing all of what it remembered or practiced. 

The preservation of traditional birthing ceremonies, care and support is one of the quickest fleeting rights any indigenous person has.  Preserved access to this knowledge is a right you are born to. A mother and family should have access to traditional ways no matter where they are. 

My secondary impact is to bring families together in the bond of motherhood. Living with traditional knowledge will change how to you see the world, and how you show up in it. One of the traditional stories from my nation is how the sun and the moon live in the sky. This is small, secondhand tale. There was a time when the moon and the sun were unstable. Raven and coyote tried to be the sun and moon, but it just didn't work. The waves were too high when the moon was close, it was cold when the sun was too far away. Then 2 boys approached an elder to ask if they could play Sun and Moon. After some discussion, the elders agreed they could try. The next day was the right temperature, and the moon shined brightly. The people agreed the boys could continue playing Sun and Moon forever. They only get to see each other during a solar or lunar eclipse. I currently live in Newfoundland, and on April 8th, I was in the path for the total solar eclipse. This date and time immediately stuck out to me as when I was going to submit the application. My goal is to bring families together through traditional ways, and for the 2 brothers to visit during the writing process for this application, I knew I was going to hit the submit button the first moment of the solar eclipse. I did just that. 

When people are aware of traditional ways and culture, it influences and impacts their choices in big and small ways. I hope to share as much culture from across Canada to as many people as I can. 

The app uses technology similar to a digital menu board. Information is broken down into sections and tabs of traditional practices the mother or family wishes to use during the pregnancy, birth or post natal that can selected "to order". 

Once the order is submitted, the app summarizes 2 reports. One is a collection of the traditional knowledge for the mother and family to use and other is for the medical team to understand what the mother or family is asking for from them and why. 

A feature I would like to have in the app, but is not developed yet, is a section where nations can donate their own traditions without me interviewing them. It would be a self-paced submission based on categories streamlined in the app. The information can be submitted and reviewed by the team, then uploaded. 

Once the template for the app is created, this can be applied to other nations in the States and even other countries around the world. 

Operating out of Newfoundland. 

Based out of Newfoundland, I would like to reach out to 4 communities in the next year. 

Each will be diverse, based on current midwives I can attend births and research ceremonies, and 2 places where elders are interviewed to collect the last of the oral culture, and a place that has the most impact where mothers and families will immediately be using the app. 

Myself. 

I would like to bring in someone to work and manage the app, and to edit my research. Bringing in a total of 3 for the actual project. 

Between midwives, mothers and families being interviewed and researched, it could be a dozen plus people. 

I would like to commission art as well to be used on the app. Banners, icons, buttons, ect. 

Since this project is a lived experience, I would say my entire life. 

My solution research started 

• when my mother kept my hair long my entire childhood until I had my first period. Since my mother had passed, I stopped cutting my hair. Its now my link to her.
• When my mother told me she was given a Christian name after she was taken from the reserve.
• When my cousin told me she felt scared in a hospital, all alone when she gave birth.
• My 2 failed pregnancies, I leaned on elders for advice and emotional support during difficult times. 

This solution was born out of the experiences of exclusion and barriers. 

For staff and communities being interviewed, there are a variety of barriers. Recognizing English is not a first language for many people. Translations from indigenous languages to English are not always an exact process. Patience and understanding will be the respect shown to all who participate. 

An epidemic in community, is the physical and sexual abuse of woman. I will have a set of resources to provide to any woman and these will be listed on the app as well. The effects of sexual abuse do not go away. When woman go into labor or start to breast feed, mental and emotional turmoil of their abuse can flare up unexpectedly. While conducting research, its possible this can happen. Having the right resources in place and available is very important. 

A focus and an aspect of success is having as much diversity as possible represented within indigenous communities. The perspective of two spirited people is important, the perspective of trans indigenous is important. These are voices that are valued be represented within the research. 

Culturally, I hope to include as many nations who wish to participate as possible within this solution. Expressed in their own words and language. 

I aim to provide as much back to communities as possible, hopefully in meaningful employment on the project.

A resource consideration for this project would be Business Model coaching. 

Revenue would be generated from the sales of the app. Pay per download. The person would receive access to the all research and ability to build a birth plan with the 2 summaries created. 

A secondary phase would be paid seminars for medical professionals to understand cultural awareness and sovereignty over medical choices. If the communities are interested, I can travel / provide resources for gatherings and cultural events hosted by Bands or nations in an attempt to revitalize cultural practices. 

Having someone who is dedicated to the knowledge and preservation of cultural practices is invaluable. 

Once established, I want to prove to other nations the value of preserving their culture and birthing legacy. Future funding could come from the nations themselves, non-profits, and other donors who support the cultural conservation or other grants. 

To date where the concept design is now is from my free time and passion for this project.