Welcome, New Registrants, to the College of Midwives of Ontario!
The College of Midwives of Ontario is mandated to regulate midwifery in the public interest and understands that midwifery care is safe, ethical, and provided by skilled practitioners.
Our primary obligation is to ensure that midwives in Ontario are qualified, skilled, and competent to practise so all Ontarians can be confident in the care they receive from professional midwives. We support midwives in providing their best care to clients – and we’re there for clients when they need us.
The College partners with registrants, the public health care system, and the government to ensure Ontarians who choose midwifery care can expect skilled, safe, and ethical care.
About New Registrants
Registrant Portal
The Registrant Portal is used to maintain and update personal and professional information related to your registration with the College and Public Register profile.
All personal and practice information contained within the portal must be current and accurate at all times.
- In the top right corner of this page, click “Registrant Portal”
- Type in your email address and password you set while registering with the College
You will log into the Registrant Portal to update your information (including personal information, practice location, and hospital privileges/birth centre privileges). You can also renew your registration, submit your Active Practice and Quality Assurance Reports, access financial records and receipts, and access your certificate of registration in the Registrant Portal.
We advise all registrants to review their public register profiles regularly to ensure accuracy of information and to familiarize themselves with the public register.
What’s Required of All New Registrants?
Maintaining Your Registration and Quality Assurance
The College’s Maintaining Your Registration page includes all the information you need to ensure your registration with the College stays up-to-date.
All New Registrants are required to complete their annual registration renewal by October 1 each year, maintain professional liability insurance at all times while practising, meet active practice requirements, work towards their Quality Assurance requirements, and maintain continuing competencies.
Knowledge of Professional Practice
Standards of Practice
Standards set minimum expectations that must be met by any midwife in any setting or role. Standards guide the professional knowledge, skills, and judgment needed to practise midwifery safely. Standards of practice are approved by the Board of the College.
Scope of Practice Guide
The purpose of this document is to describe the midwifery scope of practice set out in the Midwifery Act, 1991, its regulations and other legislation that govern the midwifery profession in Ontario. In addition to providing information about scope, this document also provides regulatory guidance to midwives about working within the midwifery scope of practice and what to do when a client’s clinical condition or the care they required is no longer in the midwifery scope of practice.
Professional Practice Advice
The College provides advisory services for midwives and members of the public who have questions about College standards, and the legislation and regulations that govern midwifery practice in Ontario. If you have a question that you don’t see addressed on this page, please contact our professional practice advisor at 416.640.2252 or by email at practiceadvice@cmo.on.ca
Professional Conduct Requirements
Midwives are responsible for understanding College requirements and legal obligations imposed by other authorities. Our guides are designed to help you do so.
Professional Misconduct Guide
Gives an overview of actions and behaviours that constitute professional misconduct.
Mediating Risk in Caring for Related Persons & Others Close to Midwives
Provides guidance to midwives who are asked to provide treatment to their family members or people with whom they share a close relationship.
Guide on Removing & Withholding Information Under s. 23 of the Code
Describes situations in which registrant information can be deemed obsolete or irrelevant and be removed from the College’s website.
Guide on Mandatory and Permissive Reporting
Outlines circumstances where midwives, employers, and operators of facilities are required to file a mandatory report with the College.
Guide to the Health Care Consent Act
Lays out the obligations of midwives in obtaining consent from clients for treatment.
Guide on Compliance with Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA)
Provides an overview of the responsibilities of midwives in handling personal health information.
Completing your New Registrant Year
After a New Registrant has practised in an established practice for a period of one year and attended a minimum of 30 births as a primary midwife as well as 30 births as a second midwife, they must declare that they have completed their new registrant conditions and submit the New Registrant Conditions Reporting Form to the College.
The College will process the form and if both conditions have been met, the new registrant conditions will be lifted from the midwife’s certificate of registration.
The College will notify the midwife by email once the conditions are removed and the College’s online public register profile will be updated to reflect the midwife’s new status.
If you forget to submit your New Registrant Conditions Reporting Form, the College cannot retroactively change your status so please ensure you submit the form as soon as you are able to.
Get Involved with the College
You can choose how involved you’d like to be with the College, but self-regulation works best when midwives are engaged and familiar with the activities of the College.
- We share regular updates by email and through our quarterly newsletters, and welcome feedback and questions from midwives. This allows midwives to stay informed and meet their College requirements.
- When the Board proposes making major changes to our regulations, by-laws, and standards, we hold public consultations where midwives can share their thoughts and opinions.
- We deeply value the input from all midwives and respond to feedback carefully and thoughtfully.
- Midwives can apply to be non-Board members of one of our College committees, and take on a more direct role in shaping how midwifery is regulated.
- Finally, we have annual elections for the professional positions on our Board, and encourage registrants to run for positions and vote for their peers.
College Resources
New Registrants can find College resources including legislation, standards, policies, guiding documents, practice advice scenarios, and FAQs for midwives at our Standards and Resources page.