Midwives are an amazing group of health-care professionals. Well -respected and highly skilled, midwives provide a wonderful service to women, families and communities in the North. With their health-care expertise, Inuit midwives give women the opportunity to give birth in their own community, surrounded by their family and friends.

Breastfeeding: a public health essentail
Slideshow on Nunatsiaq News online, Oct, 4, 2010

Recorded interviews with Inuit midwives, maternity care workers, and nurses

Listen to their stories:

• Speaking Inuktitut is comforting to women in labour - Lily Amagoalik, Inuk Nurse, Iqaluit
  (time: 2:23 minutes)
  
  
• How Inuit practices and Western practices around birthing are different - Lily Amagoalik, Inuk Nurse, Iqaluit
  (time: 2:27 minutes)
  
  
• The importance of having Inuit traditions part of midwifery and maternity care training - Lily Amagoalik, Inuk Nurse, Iqaluit
  (time: 1:12 minutes)
  
  
• Read the transcript of the interview with Lily Amagoalik, Inuk Nurse, Iqaluit 
  
  
  
• The joy of working with first-time parents - Jennifer Pecek, Inuvialuk Nurse, Inuvik
  (time: 1:09 minutes)
  
  
• A challenging delivery - Jennifer Pecek, Inuvialuk Nurse, Inuvik
  (time: 1:51 minutes)
  
  
• Using Inuit practices in midwifery training materials - Jennifer Pecek, Inuvialuk Nurse, Inuvik
  (time: 2:28 minutes)
  
  
• Read the transcript of the interview with Jennifer Pecek, Inuvialuk Nurse, Inuvik
  
  

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  INUKTITUT INTERVIEWS

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  Audio is available in Inuktitut only; transcripts are available in English and Inuktitut>>
  
  
• As caregivers, do you deal with a lot of prevention and awareness? - Eva Kigutaq, Child and Family Programs, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Ottawa
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  
• "Before I came here, I used to be a midwife, I fully enjoyed everything about it and am very proud of it"
  - Eva Kigutaq, Child and Family Programs, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Ottawa
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  
• "Since our clients are all Inuit, we try our best to have our services and resources be designed for Inuit and available for Inuit, and we have developed a CD to help them"
  - Eva Kigutaq, Child and Family Programs, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Ottawa
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  
  
• "In my experience, or from what I’ve seen, is that Inuit food has been used the most and it is the best, in our culture"
  - Eva Kigutaq, Child and Family Programs, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, Ottawa
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  

• "Sometimes a woman has a long labour, or if there is an unexpected sudden delivery and the baby can’t breath ... yes, sometimes it’s hard what we have to go through"
  - Kim Moorhouse, Midwifery student, Inukjuak
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  

• "We use many traditional ways here in our community"
  - Kim Moorhouse, Midwifery student, Inukjuak
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  
• "The most memorable one I have is when a woman was in labour with 10 centimeters [dilation] ... she came in straight to the labour room"
  - Maggie Tayara Saviadjuk, student midwife, Salluit
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  
• Is any of the midwifery/maternity care training in your region done through the Internet?
  - Maggie Tayara Saviadjuk, student midwife, Salluit
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  
• "Midwifery teaches many skills; it teaches you how to be a better parent, how to take care of yourselves and many other useful things in nurturing the body and family, so once the student learns all these she gains more confidence "
  - Maggie Tayara Saviadjuk, student midwife, Salluit
  Inuktitut audio | Bilingual transcript
  
  

Stories

• Luckily we had a blizzard
• Aboriginal Midwifery in Canada: podcast
• Home birth in Happy Valley-Goose Bay
• Six women studying in maternal care course
• Interview about Inuit childrearing practices
• Letter from Rebecca Lonsdale

Being a midwife is a challenging task. It's also interesting and rewarding!

Tell us your story:

• What first attracted you to midwifery?
• What kind of exciting experiences have you had?
• What is your favorite birth that you assisted with?