With thanks to Alberta’s Ministry of Status of Women and the Hon. Danielle Larivee, Minister of the Status of Women for awarding a Community Grant, the Alberta Association of Midwives is hosting its inaugural conference at the Grey Eagle Resort on the Tsuut’ina Nation (adjacent to Calgary, Alberta) on Thursday, September 20 and Friday, September 21 with workshops scheduled for Saturday, September 22.
The Conference, Annual General Meeting and Exhibition aim to bring midwives, other healthcare professionals and the public together to advance midwives as essential primary caregivers. The Alberta Association of Midwives is pleased to take a leadership role in supporting midwives in improving Alberta’s maternity care system.
Program
Thursday, September 20
Indigenous Midwifery and Serving Families in Remote Locations
Lesley Paulette, Registered Midwife
Lesley is of Mohawk descent from the Six Nations of the Grand River and a member of the Treaty 8 Smith's Landing First Nation in Fitzgerald, Alberta. She was called to midwifery and pursued a self-directed program of learning, seeking traditional and contemporary mentors. Since 1993, she has provided midwifery services to Smith's Landing First Nation and Fort Smith and played an integral role in developing regulated midwifery in the NWT. She was among the first midwives registered in Alberta and has been employed by Fort Smith Health & Social Services Authority since 2005.
Informed Consent and Refusal in Maternity Care: A Practical Ethical Guide
Hermine Hayes-Klein, attorney and international maternity healthcare advocate
Hermine Hayes-Klein is an attorney and international advocate for women's rights in maternal healthcare. From 2008 - 2012, Hermine taught international law at The Hague University in The Netherlands, where she was the director of the Bynkershoek Research Center for Reproductive Rights. Since 2012, Hermine has organized six multi-stakeholder international conferences on human rights in childbirth in Europe, the US, South Africa, and India, spoken publicly around the world on human rights in maternal healthcare, consulted on legislation relating to birth and breastfeeding in multiple jurisdictions, and worked directly on many legal cases relating to midwifery, informed consent, shared decision-making, and modern maternity care. Hermine and her family live in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Andrew Kotaska, MD, FRCS
Andrew is Territorial Clinical Lead, Women's & Children's Health in Yellowknife, NWT. He received his medical degree from UBC in 1992 and worked as a GP-surgeon in northern BC before returning to complete an OBGYN residency in 2006. With academic appointments with the Universities of British Columbia, Manitoba, and Toronto, he is active in midwifery and obstetrical education. His academic interests centre on preserving physiological birth while avoiding unnecessary intervention; the overestimation of risk in obstetrics; and the ethics of informed consent and refusal. He will also present on breech birth.
Friday, September 21
After 25 Years of Regulated Midwifery in Canada, What Does the Future Offer?
Eileen Hutton, RM, PhD, FCAHS, Professor Emeritus McMaster University
Eileen's extensive maternity care education culminated in a PhD in Clinical Epidemiology in 2003. Eileen recently retired from her position as Assistant Dean of the McMaster Midwifery Education Program. She has represented the profession in many venues and received many awards including the Association of Ontario Midwives (AOM) Lifetime Achievement award and the Society of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists of Canada Western Regional Award. She is recognised internationally for her contribution to midwifery and obstetrical research. She is a past president of the AOM and a founder of the Canadian Journal of Midwifery Research and Practice.
Intergenerational Trauma in Maternity Care: Professionally and Personally
Kim Haxton, Founder, IndigenEYEZ
Kim is Potowatomi from the Wasauksing First Nation in northern Ontario. With degrees in geography and outdoor recreation, she has studied for 20 years with indigenous healers from Nepal, Thailand, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Belize, Haiti, and North America. She has become deeply involved in the healing of community and individual. Her extensive work in trauma counselling training has given her a unique perspective which includes traditional and modern modalities. She is convinced of the power of individuals and communities to enact their own healing through decolonization and harmonizing with nature.
Advancing Inclusive Care for LGBTQIA2S Families
Cora Beitel, Registered Midwife
Cora is a founding member of Vancouver's Strathcona Midwifery Collective that brought together their love of midwifery and dedication to community activism. A UBC midwifery graduate, Cora gives inclusive, supportive and informative care to people who are marginalized because of their youth, street involvement, substance use or mental health issues. In addition to their clinical midwifery work, they co-facilitate a monthly Queer and Trans Pregnancy and Parenting Group that provides support, resources and community dialogue for queer and trans folks on the parenting journey.
Building Solidarity and Civility in Midwifery: Moving Beyond Division
Cristen Pascucci, Founder, Birth Monopoly
Hermine Hayes-Klein, attorney and international maternity healthcare advocate
More information to follow.
Conference Program Director and Curator
Lolly de Jonge, PhD
For three decades, Lolly has been one of Canada's pre-eminent maternity care advocates who founded Birthing Magazine in 1997, is the former CEO of the Alberta Association of Midwives and has been recognized as a notable indigenous person. She is a provocative change agent, facilitator, media producer (including being the Director of the Transformation to Parenthood TV series) and was the primary researcher on the Maternity Care Priorities in Alberta Report. Together with the AAM team, Lolly curated the Midwifery Matters Conference program with intention and love
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