“Black midwives working among Black communities have been guiding lights through adversity, advocating for their community’s human rights.”
Stacy Lewis, 2018, Colour of Birth
The history of midwifery in Ontario goes far beyond the passing of the Midwifery Act in 1991. Indigenous midwives in the region—long before it was known as Ontario—have been supporting births in their communities since time immemorial.
Similarly, Black midwives, many of whom were forcibly brought to North America in the 1600s, continued these traditions in settlements in Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Nova Scotia. Isolated from mainstream medical care and restricted from accessing certain services, Black midwives relied on their deep knowledge of herbal medicine to care for their communities as a whole.
One of these midwives was Mattie Mayes, who moved from the southern United States to Maidstone, Saskatchewan in 1910 as part of the “Oklahoma migration”; she and her family were some of the first Black settlers in the province. As the community’s matriarch, Mayes was a respected midwife who delivered many babies and is remembered as being instrumental in creating a richer, freer life for her family and community.
However, systemic oppression against Black and Indigenous peoples, combined with the medicalization of childbirth, led to a sharp decline in community midwifery. By the 1950s, midwifery had nearly vanished in Ontario.
During Black History Month and beyond, the College of Midwives of Ontario reflects on this rich history and the profound impact Black midwives have had on maternal health and reproductive justice, both historically and today.
The history of Black midwives in Canada should never be forgotten, and while much of it has been erased, there are many initiatives rediscovering their legacies and celebrating their enduring impact. Colour of Birth, produced by the Canadian Midwives of Colour History Project (CMOC), is a multimedia experience exploring and documenting the history of Canada’s earliest, racialized, immigrant midwives and their communities during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Learn More: Ontario Midwifery – a project inspired by Black communities, birthing people, children, midwives, and midwifery students – presents public information about midwifery care in Ontario with the aim of increasing public awareness about midwifery care across Black communities.
Sources:
- Canadian Museum of History
- Colour of Birth