Zero midwives in Yukon leads some expecting parents to make tough calls
CBC
More than six months after Yukon's new midwifery regulations came into effect, the territory has no legal, working midwives — and that's leading some expectant parents to make difficult decisions.
New regulations for midwifery came into effect in April — the first step in a decades-long battle to integrate the profession into the territory's broader healthcare system. One of the requirements is for midwives to be registered and have practiced in another Canadian province or territory for at least a year.
Christina Kaiser was the only practicing midwife in Yukon before the regulations came into force, she said. The new regulations mean Kaiser, who spent the last 20 years of her professional career in Yukon, can no longer work.
"It's very stressful for me because I would like to take care of [my clients], but I can't," Kaiser told CBC.
Kaiser is now going back and forth between New Westminster, B.C., and Whitehorse to put in hours as a registered midwife there. After a year, Kaiser is hoping she will be able to start practicing full time again in Yukon.
"I'm not moving, this is my home," Kaiser said. "I want to work here, not in B.C."
The new regulations also force midwives to get their own private insurance, something Kaiser said is "virtually impossible."
"You could have private insurance, but that is not feasible in a profession like midwifery ... it is financially impossible to get insurance for one person," Kaiser, who is also the president of the Yukon Association for Birth Choices, told CBC.
"So the only way to actually work as a midwife legally in the Yukon right now is to be hired by the Yukon government," she continued.
Tracy-Anne McPhee, Yukon's health minister, told the Legislature in May that the government hired two midwives to help move the profession into the broader healthcare system, but they are not providing on-the-ground services for pregnant people.
"There are currently no midwives in the territory to provide the services under the new act," McPhee continued.
"But there is always a gap in doing that ... and we expect that it will be resolved — hopefully in the near future."
Midwifery was supposed to be offered by the fall. During this fall sitting of the Legislature, McPhee said the implementation is "taking longer than expected" and should be in place by the spring.
CBC sent a list of questions about the midwifery regulations to the department of health but did not receive a reply before publication.
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