Anti-racism and Inclusivity Statement

The terrorist attack on June 6th 2021 that took the lives of the Afzaal family left us horrified. We cannot fully express our condolences to the community. We know that anti-Muslim hate is a serious problem in Canada and we must do our part to put a stop to it. We recognize that this attack is only one of the recent examples of racism, bigotry and discrimination that have occurred in London. We are saddened for the individuals in our community who face these injustices regularly. We pledge to not just acknowledge but to actively reflect and work towards changing our language, our practices, and our care in order to better serve our diverse community at our midwifery practice.

We feel it is important to share this statement to hold ourselves accountable. Within this statement, we would like to pay tribute and honour some communities in London that regularly face discrimination. We recognize that this is not an exhaustive list and we wish to send love, appreciation and acknowledgement to all of the diverse individuals and groups that make up our midwifery clients.

We acknowledge our privilege to be living and working on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples. We know that the discoveries of unmarked graves across our country at the sites of residential schools are just the beginning. We recognize that the estimated Indigenous lives lost at residential schools is a fraction of the true number and we grieve the intergenerational trauma to our Indigenous community members. We support a continued commitment to the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada with respect to Indigenous people. We particularly want to do our part to contribute to the Calls to Action relevant to healthcare, specifically with regards to pregnancy, birth and newborn care.

We want to acknowledge the trauma and discrimination experienced by members of the 2SLGBTQ+ pride community in healthcare and during pregnancy and childbirth.

The Association of Ontario Midwives put out a call in June 2020 for all members to critically reflect on white privilege in our society and make space for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) midwives and students. The discrimination that BIPOC families have experienced during childbirth is not acceptable and we are actively examining how we can improve care to this community.

We know that words are not enough if we don’t have actions to help contribute to a less discriminatory and racist world. The following actions are the ways the midwives at our practice are working on our inclusivity.

As a practice dedicated to inclusivity and diversity, we are committed to prioritizing employment opportunities to midwives and staff of diverse backgrounds and abilities. We have also contributed financially to a fund to increase accessibility for BIPOC students to the Midwifery Education Program.

We are committed to ongoing periodic review of existing policies, protocols and services to ensure they reflect the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Our practice is supporting a call to create an Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity Committee at the Women’s Health Unit at London Health Sciences Centre that includes diverse community members passionate about equitable health care for all families.

We further commit to ongoing partnership with community resources and financial contributions to multifaith, BIPOC, 2SLGBTQ+ organization.

Understanding that lived experiences can provide more insight than may be available to us, we welcome any feedback from the community and our clients. Please email our administrator with any suggestions or comments.

We are excited to announce that we have changed our practice name from Womancare Midwives to Forest City Midwifery C.A.R.E. The acronym stands for Choice, Advocacy, Respect and Empowerment. Our intention in changing our name was to reflect the principles of diversity, equity in health care and inclusivity to the greatest degree. It is important to our practice that pregnant people in this community who do not identify as women feel safe to seek care from our clinic.