Translating Priorities Into Practice: Midwifery Care for Uninsured Migrant Populations Across Canada

Immigrants and newcomers are identified by many provincial midwifery associations as "priority populations." Recently, newcomer populations have shifted considerably, with more people coming to Canada with precarious immigration status who are increasingly ineligible for public healthcare insurance and facing barriers to accessing care. Our aims were to: (1) gain an understanding of the policies related to equitable access to midwifery care and how they may apply to migrant groups without public healthcare insurance and (2) identify existing policy themes, gaps, and regulatory barriers that limit access for this vulnerable population in Canada.

We conducted a high-level document content analysis using a health equity framework. We aimed to identify language related to equitable access in midwifery services, with particular emphasis on uninsured populations. A total of 64 documents were analyzed, including legislation and publicly available statements from midwifery regulatory bodies and associations.

Midwifery regulatory authorities and associations across Canada are consistent in establishing an expectation that midwives will provide accessible care to diverse clientele. However, how these commitments are put into practice varies considerably between jurisdictions. We compared the cases of Manitoba and Ontario to illustrate the disconnect between commitments to priority populations and implementation.

While there is a clearly demonstrated intention to provide equitable access to midwifery care to all people, including "priority populations" like migrants and newcomers, in practice, these commitments have not been fully realized. Equity is encumbered by broader structural issues, such as the growth in the number of newcomers without access to public health insurance. Moves toward equity within midwifery and healthcare more broadly need to meaningfully engage with other policy sectors, such as immigration, to be able to adapt to emerging issues affecting reproductive care, such as the growing precarity of newcomer populations in Canada.