Kehewin Cree Nation brings traditional birthing back to community
Having kokums present to support parents and welcome baby was the 'ultimate comfort,' says new mom
For the first time in over 60 years, a baby was born on Kehewin Cree Nation last month thanks to a midwifery program that is the first of its kind in a First Nation in Alberta.
In the early hours of April 5, Maelan Simaganis-Tsatoke started to feel contractions, but she was in Edmonton, far from her home in Kehewin, 240 kilometres east of the city.
She decided to drive nearly three hours back to the First Nation.
"I just knew that I wanted our family there, community," said Simaganis-Tsatoke, who is originally from Poundmaker First Nation in Saskatchewan.
"It was like a dream, honestly, to have that experience."
By the time Simaganis-Tsatoke arrived, a makeshift birthing centre had been set up in a space that was formerly a daycare.
What made this birth different is that it was a traditional birth, incorporating Cree songs, smudging, and a fire burning outside. Kokums — or grandmothers — played a key role.
"Every contraction I had somebody holding me and when they got stronger, my cousin Jada was singing to me," said Simaganis-Tsatoke.
"It just helped ground me and it was just a really beautiful experience. And to have the kokums smudging me, praying for me, I just loved it. It was so beautiful."
After the birth, the boy's name was chosen by the grandmothers.
"His name is Kasohkikapowit, and that means 'he who stands strong,'" said Simaganis-Tsatoke.
"After he was born, the kokums … said he's going to blaze a path for others in the community, so that's how they came up with his name."
Dad Kenneth Gadwa-Stone is from Kehewin, and he grew up attending ceremonies, but a traditional birth was a new experience for him.
"I came in there with [an] open mind because I believe in Creator … and I just knew it was meant to be," said Gadwa-Stone.
"I hope every baby from Kehewin could be born here."
Birthing part of 'cultural repair'
The midwifery program in Kehewin Cree Nation was years in the making, according to co-ordinator Anthony Johnson.
The program originally received funding from Indigenous Services Canada in 2019 as a pilot project.
In 2021, the program received a portion of the $26.5 million over three years Ottawa put toward expanding midwifery and doula services in First Nations. Other programs that received funding include a midwifery program in Sturgeon Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan and a doula program in Opaskwayak Cree Nation in Manitoba.
But there's still work to be done, as Johnson says the space being used needs renovations, and the program requires about $650,000 a year to stay up and running.
According to Statistics Canada, between 2008-11 the Canadian non-Indigenous infant mortality rate was 3.7 deaths per 1,000 births, but the First Nations infant mortality rate was more than twice that, at 8.51 deaths per 1,000 births.
Experts say systemic racism and the lack of access to health services could contribute to the disparity.
Johnson said midwifery programs in First Nations are essential for "cultural repair," to return a part of Cree culture that was lost due to colonization.
Johnson said these types of programs promote culturally safe health care, which can be beneficial to the health of mother and child in both the short and long term.
"When people participate in culture, they have better health outcomes," he said.
"They're less likely to have suicidal ideation, they're less likely to engage in drugs and alcohol."
Cree midwife Melissa Cardinal Grant, from Papaschase First Nation in Alberta, said taking part in the historic birth was "an honour and privilege."
She came to midwifery after spending years working as a labour and delivery nurse.
"I really wanted to do more and I felt like I wasn't able to do that as a nurse," she said.
Cardinal Grant said during her training to become a midwife, she learned about different cultural births but not about Indigenous birthing practices.
"There was no discussion on what Indigenous birth looked like and we're the people [for whom] this is our ancestral homeland," said Cardinal Grant.
"I remember that feeling of … we're being erased from our own lands, and that experience, I carried that with me for a long time."
In a statement to CBC News, Indigenous Services Canada said having midwifery services in First Nations improves health outcomes for mothers and babies.
"The practices of Indigenous midwives are deeply rooted in Indigenous cultures, traditions, and knowledge systems," said Suzanna Su, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada.
"Indigenous midwifery supports cultural revitalization and disrupts the ongoing harmful impacts of colonization and birthing evacuations."
The role of kokums
In a traditional Cree birth, grandmothers play an important role, doing everything from coaching the mom and dad to smudging and singing songs.
Dorene Moosepyo, one of the grandmothers who assisted in the birth, said traditional births were once more common in the community.
Moosepyo was born on Kehewin Cree Nation in 1954, one of the last people born in the community.
Moosepyo was learning on the job at last month's birth, but said she felt comforted by the thought that generations of grandmothers before helped bring babies into the world.
"I was calling on my grandmas, praying … 'help us, guide us through so that we can see this with this new birth.'"
She hopes that the birth of Kasohkikapowit is the first of many.
"I just prayed that our community would really rebirth from this birthing [experience], to awaken what was sleeping," said Moosepyo.
When Simaganis-Tsatoke recalls the birth, thinking of the grandmothers brings up tears.
"It was the ultimate comfort to see them walk in," said Simaganis-Tsatoke.
"It's like, I know they got me. I know everything will be fine because they're there."
Florence Dion, Moosepyo's sister, also assisted in the birth, couldn't help but think of the generations of grandmothers before who assisted in births.
"My kokum, my capan [great-grandmother] must have been strong," said Dion.
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