'A sacred experience': Indigenous midwives revive birthing traditions to deliver babies at home
CBC
On the shore of Lake Kehiwin, four mothers cradled their babies' placentas in a ceremony held along a newly cleared trail in the bush of the Kehewin Cree Nation in northeast Alberta.
Each baby is swaddled in a different coloured fabric and tied with ribbon as part of an inaugural birth camp, a week-long event to share teachings about traditional birthing and family customs.
In a thicket of trees next to the mothers, a group of men dug a hole for placentas to be placed on top of sage and buried with an offering of tobacco.
"When we do that, the kid is grounded and is with Mother Earth," Elder Doreen Moosepayo said.
The children were delivered at the hospital in the town of Bonnyville, Alta., 20 kilometres northeast. But the goal is that future generations can enter the world on the Cree nation.
The initiative is part of a federal pilot to increase the number of Indigenous midwives in reserve communities, including Kehewin, Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba, and Sturgeon Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan.
Trainees study the practices of past generations of Indigenous midwives along with medical training.
Four women are training to become midwives in Kehewin, and the First Nation recently received $500,000 in capital funding to build a midwifery birthing centre to foster future opportunities.
It will take up to four years for trainees in Kehewin to complete their studies, but the hope is that this birth camp will be one of many.
Jodi Gadwa-Cardinal, doula and midwife in-training, entered the program to keep traditions alive within her family.
When Gadwa-Cardinal's niece Maelan Tsatoke had a baby, the family kept Tsatoke labouring at home for as long as possible. When the baby was born at the hospital, they sang the family's welcoming song to him in Cree.
"This is why I'm in this Indigenous midwifery program because I want the whole experience," she said, adding the ultimate goal is for the women to have their babies born in their communities.
"For them to have [the] baby at home in Kehewin where they're from ... It's such a sacred experience for mom and baby," Gadwa-Cardinal said.
"Baby hears the language from the kokums [or grandmothers] right away so that he knows this is where he belongs, this is your family, and this is who you are."
Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney says he'd run a deficit to 'invest and grow' Canada's economy
Liberal leadership hopeful Mark Carney confirmed Sunday that a federal government led by him would run a deficit "to invest and grow" Canada's economy, but it would also balance its operational spending over the next three years.
The St. Anthony, N.L., Boys and Girls club is "starting to dream about what's possible to make the community even stronger" after its building was destroyed by a fire, said national CEO Owen Charters.
Groundhog Day: The Musical, based on the 1993 Bill Murray film, is having its Canadian premiere in Sudbury., following stints in London and New York.
A vacant north-end Halifax building that was previously described as an "immediate safety risk" by a fire inspector caught fire early Sunday.
This is part of a series called Ann's Eye, featuring the work of Ann Paul, a Wolastoqey content creator. You can see more Ann's Eye pieces by clicking here.
Olivier Soumis's green canvas tent sits in the middle of the frozen St. Lawrence River, providing a stark pop of colour against the muted tones of the snow and the open water in the distance.
A debate over how to adjudicate Treaty 4 rights was at the core of a federal court hearing in Manitoba this week.
Kael Flynn is the scion of a Saskatoon fashion dynasty, but the 22-year-old is more concerned with perfecting his curveball than selling suits.
The Regina Humane Society celebrated its first year in its new building on Saturday.
Beekeepers in Alberta's Peace region are watching nervously as the threat of a trade war looms.
In a world of shrinking margins and shuttered breweries, the last thing the craft beer industry in British Columbia needs is a tariff pushing up the price of the humble beer can.
Hamilton and the surrounding area is under a winter storm warning as up to 25 centimetres of snow is expected to accumulate Sunday, says Environment Canada.
With snow hammering Toronto overnight Saturday, Environment Canada is warning that the heaviest snowfall is still to come and travel conditions could "rapidly deteriorate" Sunday morning.