The Midwifery Group of Ottawa was established in 1994 after the Regulated Health Professions Act was passed. We recognize here the importance of the incredible consumer lobbying effort prior to legislation. We also appreciate the ongoing help of our local consumers. Midwives work within a specific scope of practice as primary care givers, are regulated by the College of Midwives of Ontario, and are covered for the cost of services by the provincial government. We have grown from four to more than ten midwives working together now.

We are a teaching practice. As such, you can expect to meet a midwifery student from either the Midwifery Education Program or the International Midwifery Pre-registration Program when you enroll for care with us. There is almost always a waiting list at our group; the need for more midwives is strong all across the province.

Our midwives deliver approximately three hundred babies each year; about a third of these births are in the home setting. We have hospital privileges at the Montfort Hospital. We are strong believers in a woman’s right to make responsible, informed choices regarding all aspects of pregnancy and birth; we advocate for the appropriate use of technology; and we provide continuity of care for everyone throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum.

The events of the childbearing year are both profound and intimate. We respectfully guide the family through these times to promote a satisfying and meaningful experience.

Please read our Informed Choice Agreement for more information about how we work.

Introduction for Archival Material

In this section we will endeavour to share a brief history, some pertinent articles and tidbits of information about Midwifery. In our offices we have a treasure trove of materials, articles and the like, that may not have been in a format appropriate for viewing on our site. Just ask on your next office visit and we would be happy to share it with you.

Ottawa, 1983, a Tuesday evening in the living room of a home in Sandy Hill. Some ten to twelve women are gathered in a circle sharing food, sipping tea, nursing babies; toddlers are quietly playing in a corner.

The talk is of political strategies, upcoming conferences and meetings, media interviews, hospital events. How do we organize? How do we get the message out to the public? To the medical establishment? To politicians?

And always there are birth stories, laughter, shared lessons learned. We are in the long evening before recognized, licensed midwifery in Ontario. We are mothers, nurses, apprentices and midwives. We devote an enormous amount of time and energy to “The Cause” – our passion – to help women have safe and satisfying options for their care in pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum.

It is November 1993, a dorm in downtown Toronto’s Michener Institute. No babies here-we’ve left them at home. We are gathered around a table sharing food, sipping tea, comparing notes for our upcoming exams. Nervous. Anticipating. We are hoping to be “grannied” in as the first licensed midwives in Ontario.

We have been scrutinized for a year: our practice, our charts, our births. We have sat for oral and written exams. We have been under the microscope. Some of us won’t make it. Most will be qualify for registration, get funded, and begin offering services to Ontario’s women.

After nearly 20 years of lobbying, marching, letter-writing, petition signing, media interviews, public speaking, and attending births “a-legally,” we have arrived!

Amazingly, the basic role is still the same: be an educator who protects the natural process; to inspire confidence while encouraging responsible choices. Our goal is to enable parents to give their babies the best possible start by having an optimal environment, a chance to get acquainted quietly and perhaps even privately, and to begin that process of relationship building by offering love, nourishment, and shelter.

It is 2005. A kitchen in an office building in the west end of Ottawa. We are gathered around a table, sharing food, sipping tea, some nursing babies. The talk is of political strategies, upcoming conferences, and meeting, media interviews, hospital events. And as ever, birth stories. Stories of women’s strength, of tears, of laughter, of fear and hope, and sweat and sleeplessness.