Midwifery Way

Supporting inclusive strategies


The Prairie and Atlantic Centres Excellence for Women's Health co-hosted the Midwifery Way Forum in July 2004. The key objectives from the Midwifery Way Forum were:

  • To explore the lessons learned thus far in Canadian jurisdictions that have legislated midwifery and translate those lessons for the not-yet-regulated provinces.
  • To identify current best practices for advancing a midwifery regulatory framework that is particularly inclusive of marginalized or vulnerable populations including single mothers, teenage mothers, low income women, immigrant women, Aboriginal, visible minority women, women with disabilities and lesbians.

The proceedings contribute to the development of inclusive strategies in those provinces that have regulated midwifery, and ensure that they are built into any new regulatory proposals. Our shared ultimate goal is to work toward improving maternity and newborn services across Canada so that all women have access to a comparable quality of women-centred care, no matter where they live or who they are.