By Ari Phanlouvong, 1st year MDP student
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| The Winnipeg Boldness Project's colourful entrance |
My first MDP Field
Placement is with The Winnipeg Boldness Project (Boldness), located in the heart
of Point Douglas. Boldness is a social innovation lab
that tackles social challenges and systematic barriers as identified by
community members, and focuses on designing community-driven and community-led
programs guided by a child-centered model.
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| Boldness's awesome ladies hard at work |
What drew me to
Boldness is its involvement in supporting the first Indigenous doula program in
Winnipeg and in Manitoba. This program is led by Wiijii’idiwag Ikwewag (Manitoba Indigenous Doula Initiative (MIDI))
which was founded in 2015 by a group of Indigenous women in Manitoba. In
case you’re wondering what ‘doulas’ are, they are defined as helpers or birth
companions to expectant mothers. Doulas support women through pregnancy, birth,
and the postpartum period, providing emotional and social support. An
Indigenous doula possesses the same skills but also provides Indigenous women
with support that is culturally based, enabling mothers to connect spiritually
through traditions and ceremonies.
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| The event poster I created for the doula's celebration |
Wiijiii’idiwag Ikwewag envisions the Indigenous doula program as an
important step toward reclaiming birth in defiance of Health Canada’s maternal
evacuation policy, which forces expectant mothers living on-reserve in rural
and remote regions to be transferred out of their home communities to larger
centres to give birth. This pilot program was made possible through the
combined efforts of Wiijiii’idiwag
Ikwewag, Nanaandawegimig ((First
Nations Health & Social Secretariat (FNHSSM)), the Winnipeg Boldness
Project, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA), and Mount Carmel
Clinic. In the coming years, the Indigenous doula program is expected to
develop in Cross Lake and two other remote communities in Manitoba, underlining
the necessity in supporting travelling expectant mothers and their families, and
for a holistic approach to health.
Boldness is specifically
involved in the evaluation of the Indigenous doula program. The first urban
cohort of doulas was trained earlier this year and supported Indigenous mothers
in Winnipeg, as well as mothers who travelled from Norway House Cree Nation and
Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (Nelson
House). Part of the evaluation process consists of meeting with doulas and the
mothers they support, and conducting interviews. I was tasked with interviewing
some of the families which helped better understand the impacts that the
program has had in the community. Through stories told by the mothers and the
doulas, I have learned about some of the barriers and challenges faced by
Indigenous mothers in the healthcare system, the important role that doulas
have as advocates for these women, and a strong desire in the community to
welcome their children to the world in a way that fits with a family’s values
and beliefs.
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| The 1st cohort of Indigenous Doulas on the graduation day |
