Statement of Solidarity & Support
Black, Indigenous and People of Colour
Since 1986, the Alberta Association of Midwives (AAM) has been the professional body that serves a passionate community of midwives and the midwifery profession in Alberta. As primary health care providers, registered midwives deliver high-quality, safe and cost-effective maternity care and have been publicly funded since 2009.
Duty Bearers: The AAM acknowledges our duty to condemn and combat all forms of racism, discrimination and violence (individual, systemic and institutional).
Rights Holders: We acknowledge that, for generations, Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC) individuals and communities have had and continue to have their human rights violated in Canada.
We further acknowledge that some people face multiple forms of systemic oppression that combine, overlap or intersect. This includes people who are 2SLGBTQ+, are a religious minority, have a disability, are neurodiverse and/or have a family structure that is non-traditional. This intersectionality can make their lived experiences and oppression even more complex.
We recognize that overlapping systems of oppression, histories and trauma have an enduring impact on access to health care and the ability of all people to make free, informed, self-determined health care decisions.
Solidarity: We stand in solidarity with BIPOC individuals and communities. Although it should never have been necessary, we honour their histories of resiliency and intergenerational survivance. We support healing from historical and ongoing trauma and violence experienced within health care settings.
Our Own Work: We have started our own work organizationally and individually. We are awakening, listening, acting and amplifying the voices of BIPOC people and communities and are committed to advancing the goals that they identify.
We have made mistakes and will surely make more as we learn. When we are called in or challenged, we respond with humility and genuine regret, and we swiftly correct our errors. We still have a long way to go on the perpetual journey to justice and equity.
We will create safe spaces for targeted midwives to have their voices centred, advocate for inclusive and supportive education pathways, support mentorship programs, and promote funding initiatives that assist targeted students. We will work in partnership with organizations and individuals who can offer guidance and we will compensate fairly for labour.
21 December 2023
AAM's Full Statement on the Gaza Conflict
The Alberta Association of Midwives stands with the global call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, recognizing the oppressive forces of colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and racism that threatens human rights.
We must understand that all forms of oppression and inequity are enabled and maintained by several paradigms: colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy, and racism. These paradigms threaten human rights, thereby leading to instability, suffering, and more inequality. Therefore, in doing anti-oppression and equity work, we must always endeavour to view oppression and inequity through these lenses in order to work towards dismantling the systems that prevent people from living safe, free, full and joyful lives and building systems that center justice in their place.
The violent attacks enacted by Hamas on October 7 were horrid and resulted in the deaths of over 1200 Israeli civilians and the taking of hundreds of hostages. We see the hurt and fear it has caused the Israeli community and call for the safe return of all hostages still held by Hamas. Hamas needs to be held accountable for their crimes. We also understand that their actions on October 7 do not reflect the values of the overwhelming majority of Palestinians living in and outside of Gaza and other parts of Palestine and reject the notion that supporting the Palestinian civilian population equates to supporting Hamas or antisemitism.
Israel’s war on Hamas has killed over 18,000 civilians, 40% of whom are children, and has permanently injured and disabled thousands more. The constant bombardment and carpet bombing of residential areas has resulted in an estimated 6,000 people missing under the rubble of destroyed homes and buildings. At least 1.8 million Palestinians have been permanently displaced with no homes to go back to. Critical infrastructure, including hospitals, roads, electricity grids, places of worship, safe drinking water, import routes and schools have been destroyed. Access to humanitarian aid has been severely limited and Gazans are now at risk of starvation. This has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe and near complete healthcare collapse, leading the world’s foremost human rights and healthcare organizations including the WHO, Doctors Without Borders, the UN, UNRWA, UNFPA, UNICEF, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to call for an urgent and sustained humanitarian ceasefire. We understand that the actions of the Israeli government and military since October 7 do not reflect the values of the majority of the Jewish community and reject the notion that supporting the Jewish people equates to Islamophobia or anti-Arab racism.
The UNFPA estimates that 45,000 pregnant women and 68,000 breastfeeding women in Gaza cannot access safe reproductive healthcare and do not have access to food or water for themselves or their families. Women, babies, and children are being killed at alarming rates and are bearing the brunt of this war. Other babies and children have become WCNSF – wounded child, no surviving family – a new term coined by medical personnel in Gaza since October 7. According to the WHO, 420 children, including infants, are killed or injured every day in Gaza. As midwives, we advocate for the values of reproductive justice, a framework developed by the Women of African Descent for Reproductive Justice in 1994. This means that everyone should be afforded the right to have a child, the right to not have a child, and the right to parent a child or children in safe and healthy environments. Reproductive justice thereby implies that childbearing people and their families have the right to self-determination, self-sovereignty, unpolluted environments, freedom from violence and access to safe food and water. The constant bombardment and destruction of infrastructure makes it impossible to achieve reproductive justice for anybody in Gaza. Likewise, it is impossible for Israeli families to achieve the same without the immediate reunification of hostages and their families.
Centering equity and justice requires us to challenge the systems that prevent people from achieving them – whether that is on a personal, national, or international scale. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. taught us,“There can be no justice without peace, and there can be no peace without justice.” Justice only begins to be achievable for the Palestinian and Israeli people with a sustained ceasefire, the liberation of Palestinians from the apartheid conditions imposed upon them by the Israeli government (as evidenced by two deeply illuminating and well researched reports by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International) and the liberation of Israeli citizens from the threat of violence by Hamas.
The very same oppressive systems we see fueling this war also fuel many other crises in the world today. Whether it is Palestinian women being prevented from parenting because they or Alberta Association of Midwives | L ’Association des Sages-Femmes de l ’Alberta their children have been ravaged by war; Israeli mothers being violently separated from their children who were taken hostage; Indigenous women in Canada being forcefully removed from their communities to give birth; or African American women having a maternal mortality rate over 3 times higher than their white counterparts, the oppressive paradigms of colonialism, white supremacy, patriarchy and racism prevent people the world over from achieving reproductive and other forms of justice. As midwives, we commit always to challenging these paradigms in an effort build a better tomorrow for our clients and their children, and as a result, our communities at large. We understand that this war may be distressing for healthcare workers and childbearing communities in Alberta and may negatively impact aspects of their childbearing and childrearing. In this vein, we re-commit to trustworthy, non-judgemental midwifery care that supports all Albertans in bringing their whole selves into the healthcare relationship.
We hereby commit to complete the following actions by December 31, 2020:
Organize additional Anti-Oppression & Equity (AO&E) training for our Board of Directors and staff (previous trainings were held in February and June 2019)
Offer AO&E training for our members
Engage with the College of Midwives of Alberta to determine how continuing education for midwives can support the advancement of AO&E
Design and implement a mentorship program
Establish criteria principles for fundraising opportunities, explore possibilities and commit to at least one fundraising campaign
Reproductive Justice Framework: We advocate that a reproductive justice framework be applied to all perinatal services, mental health care, educational programs and clinical practices. The framework design must include the perspectives of and consider the lived experiences of BIPOC midwives, student midwives, colleagues and clients.
Call to Action: The profession of midwifery in Alberta needs to increase its racial, gender and sexual diversity and inclusion. The AAM believes that all midwives and midwifery practices can and should provide an environment where all individuals are welcomed, treated with dignity and respect, and encouraged to express diverse points of view as active members of the community.
We are calling on our members to stand with us as allies and to acknowledge that we have much work to do for justice and equity.
If you are a BIPOC member who has the capacity to share your voice and lived experiences in order to further the work needed to create structural change within the profession, please consider joining the AO&E Committee.
Effective: September 18, 2020
This Statement of Solidarity & Support is a living document that will be updated periodically as we make progress and the external environment evolves. This statement was developed with reference to the Canadian Association of Midwives Anti-Oppression Statement: Health Cannot be Achieved Without Justice.