Revitalizing Dakelh Midwifery Can Result in Better Healthcare Outcomes for Dakelh Women, and Greater Diversity in Healthcare

The repatriation of childbirth back to Indigenous communities in the Northern Health Region of British Columbia (BC) is beneficial to holistic and Indigenous-led healthcare. Policy interventions internationally, federally, provincially, and at a community-level related to the education of Aboriginal midwives is important to the repatriation of childbirth back to Indigenous communities. In the Northern Health Region, it is common practice that women living in remote places such as Indian Reservations, small municipalities, or rural areas in the Northern Health regions, leave their homes, families, and communities to give birth in larger centralized hospitals (National Aboriginal Council of Midwives, 2016; Northern Health Authority, n.d.; Smylie, J., 2016); I will explore how this practice has had negative impacts on Aboriginal women, children, families, and communities. This policy brief explains the benefits of allowing Aboriginal women to stay in their communities to give birth, and introduces policy changes that encourage the acquirement of more Aboriginal midwives to the Northern BC region through a process of training Dakelh doulas.