Facing 'maternal evacuation,' Inuit women on Labrador's north coast want midwifery at home

Pregnant women in Labrador's coastal communities often have to travel to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in the weeks before their expected due dates, but an Inuit women's coalition is working to keep them closer to home.

Earlier this month, PauktuutitInuit Women of Canada released a report on the need for midwifery services in Inuit communities. The group says midwives which have traditionally been a key part of Inuit culture are an important asset to allow women to give birth at home, where they feel comfortable and safe.

The report calls for a national framework across provinces and territories.

"It is absolutely important for Pauktuutit to bring this back because it is a right for Inuit women to give birth in their home regions and it is something that is wanted," saidPauktuutit president Nancy Etok."It is an absolute tradition that Inuit have. They've been doing midwifery since forever."

LISTEN | Nancy Etok on why midwifery should return to Inuit communities:

Labrador Morning6:38A new vision for Inuit midwifery

Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada is calling for legislation and funding to help midwives become established in Inuit communities. We hear from Pauktuutit president Nancy Etok.

Newfoundland and Labrador committed to allowing and regulating midwifery in 2014, but the first clinicdidn't open until 2020 in Gander, a long way from the coast of Labrador.

Etok said women in Inuit communities face extreme levels of stress when they leave their homes to move to bigger centres for maternal health care and child birth. There's the stress of being away from their partners, their other children, and their jobs.

She said the message from Inuit women while compiling their report was clear: "All the Inuit women wanted midwifery to come back because the maternal evacuation that occurs creates a lot of trauma, not only to the mom and child, but to the whole family."

LISTEN | Duncan McCue's documentary on the return of midwiferyto Inuit communities:

The Current25:51Hands of a Midwife: How Inuit women brought birth home

For decades, Inuit women in northern Quebec had to travel south to give birth, far from family and support. That started to change in 1986 when the Norths first midwifery clinic opened in Puvirnituq. Duncan McCue takes us into that maternity centre with his documentary, Hands of a Midwife, which first aired in September.

Etok pointed to Nunavik, the Inuit region of northern Quebec, where midwifery has been commonplace since 1986.

The program there combines traditional knowledge with modern medicineand aims to keep women in their communities whenever possible.

"That exists, which is absolutely a perfect example that it can be accomplished," she said.

Etok said the framework would require collaboration from a number of different groupsand would follow in the footsteps of the Nunavik program.

She saidPauktuutit wants women to know it is committed to pushing the issue forward in Inuit communities, including Nunatsiavut.

"We are going to work very hard so that we may realize this, so that everybody, all the family members, can all celebrate the birth of the baby they will be welcoming in their community," she said. "We will do everything we can to achieve that."

Download ourfree CBC News appto sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador.Click here to visit our landing page.