Hands of a Midwife

In small hamlets, First Nations and Inuit communities across Canada’s north, many pregnant women have little choice but to travel south, far away from home, to give birth. Local care for mothers and babies simply isn’t available. For decades, Inuit women in the vast area of northern Quebec known as Nunavik faced similar pressures. That was until one pregnant woman refused to get on a plane and go south to deliver her baby. Her act of resistance ignited a sea-change, and in 1986 the community of Puvirnituq opened the first midwifery clinic in the North. On this week's Storylines, Duncan McCue takes us to Puvirnituq, to bring us the story behind that clinic, and meet the midwives who serve their own community.