I Delivered my Baby Alone...and You Advocated with Me

This is the third post in Pro-Mama, a 4-part series reflecting on God's gift of life in the first 1000 days of a baby's life--from conception to age 2. Visit this page to subscribe or to see other posts in the series. 

Today we're hearing from Heather Kooiman, a nurse who has worked in many northern Ontario communities. 

1) Tell us a little about your experience in Indigenous communities.

I grew up in southern Ontario and had little knowledge of the people who are Indigenous to Canada but I started working in First Nations communities in northern Ontario with a non-profit organization who started to run summer programs for children and youth.

After my first experience working in this northern community, I knew that this wasn’t going to be only one summer. I couldn’t believe that I was still in the same country much less the same province that I had grown up in. Some homes lacked running water and electricity. Most homes were trailer homes with 5-10 people living in this small space.

After my first experience working in this northern community, I knew that this wasn’t going to be only one summer.

I had seen poverty in Eastern Europe and East Africa but this seemed worse—the people in this community lived in a wealthy country, Canada, yet they lacked necessities that other Canadians take for granted. It seemed to me that something had gone wrong that the First Peoples of this country were living like this. Since that first summer, I have spent over 10 years in that community and have worked as a nurse in other northern communities.

2) What disparities have you seen in the healthcare and support that's available to Indigenous moms living on reserve? 

I have only worked in a few communities and can speak to some of the concerns that I have seen. The concerns that I have seen, especially in northern Ontario, revolve around the issue of remoteness. Most communities are fly-in communities and since small nursing stations serve the communities, women need to fly out to larger communities to delivery their baby.

Women need to fly out to larger communities to delivery their baby.

During my time working as a nurse in a fly-in community, the government had cut funding so that when it came time for the mom to leave the community, there was only funding for the mother to go alone. Despite all the research in health care that recognizes the importance of having emotional support especially during a time such as labour and delivery, the women would often deliver their children alone.

I had conversations with pregnant women on a regular basis where they would tell me that they did not want to leave their family to be alone for a couple weeks waiting to deliver their child. Pregnant women would often ‘go into hiding’ so that they wouldn’t be sent out of the community alone. There were also times that women wouldn’t leave in hopes of delivering their child in the community.

Pregnant women would often ‘go into hiding’ so that they wouldn’t be sent out of the community alone.

During my time in northern communities, I assisted in a number of deliveries that thankfully all went well. But we were always concerned that if there were any complications, we would not have the equipment and facilities to handle all complications.

One story that sticks out to me clearly is about a woman named Celine (her name is changed for confidentiality). Celine had 5 children and was pregnant with twins. Due to the higher risk that comes with delivering twins, we were adamant that she deliver her babies in a larger hospital that could accommodate any needs or complications that could arise.

But when the time came for her to leave the community, she didn’t want to leave. Not only did she not want to deliver alone far from her community, but she also had 5 young children that she didn’t want to leave behind. I remember the daily stress of worrying that she would deliver the babies before leaving the community.

One story that sticks out to me clearly is about a woman named Celine.

One day she came into the nursing station in labour. In a panic, we were able to get a helicopter into the community and had multiple health care professionals accompany her as she flew to the nearest hospital.

This story is one example that things can improve though. Many women have similar stories and from these stories came voices that advocated for change. Thanks to years of advocacy, the government changed its policy and now allows both parents to fly out of the community together for the birth of their child. It is situations like this that feed my hope that speaking up for change can make shifts in the right direction.

It still isn’t perfect. These communities do not have the same resources that we have around the corner from our homes. And we cannot start to blame the people who live in these communities–it was European settlers that made treaties with these people giving them specific remote land areas to live and we agreed to provide the services that they needed.

Many women have similar stories and from these stories came voices that advocated for change.

But we haven’t kept our end of the treaties. I know, you didn’t sign the treaty, neither did I.

There is an interesting story in the Bible about a treaty. In Joshua 9, the Gibeonites tricked Joshua into making a treaty with them. The Gibeonites were the Israelites’ neighbours and feared that they would be killed so they pretended to have come from a distant land and made a treaty of peace with Joshua.

There is an interesting story in the Bible about a treaty.

Then we read in 2 Samuel 21 that there was a famine in the land for three years. David turns to God and God tells him that there is a famine because Saul broke the treaty with the Gibeonites and put them to death. That’s right, hundreds of years later, a treaty that neither Saul nor David made was the cause of a famine. God values treaties. If God values treaties then I think we need to view treaties with the same respect.  

3) Where could you see the Christian community playing a positive role in this situation?

Honestly, the best place to start is ourselves. It’s easy to say that you are not racist, but do you complain that governments may be spending more of your tax dollars on adequate and equal housing, education, and health care in remote Indigenous communities? Do you think that Indigenous communities are wasting money (without knowing the details of their finances)?

These are unconscious forms of racism. We need to reflect on what Jesus would say about these situations. I know what Jesus would say: He told me to love my neighbor as myself. That’s a high calling.

Honestly, the best place to start is ourselves.

Jesus isn’t calling us to remember our neighbor once in a while and tithe 10% of our money to other people. He is calling us to a radical life to care for the needs of our neighbor in the same way that we care about our own needs. I think we need to reflect on the words of Jesus and ask Him what that means for our lives, every day.

I am not here to tell you which way to vote but I think it is imperative to discuss the priorities of Indigenous people with your Member of Parliament. If they are aware that it will impact how you are going to vote, then they will more likely make it an important part of their platform.

I think it is imperative to discuss the priorities of Indigenous people with your Member of Parliament.

The government is obviously not the only way to make change but it is definitely a place where change needs to happen so that they make choices that support Indigenous peoples.

[Photo by Sergiu Vălenaș on Unsplash]