About PEIMA
Background
The PEI Midwives Association (the Association, PEIMA) evolved from a small group of midwives from across Canada, and sometimes from abroad, who came here to help Island people who wanted midwifery care and home birth. One member of that group, Joyce England, attended a conference of the Canadian Confederation of Midwives held in Halifax in the late 1990s and was subsequently invited to attend a meeting of Canadian midwives in Winnipeg in 2000. It was there that the Canadian Association of Midwives was born. At that time, we also began to organize a tiny working association for Prince Edward Island.
It was a long road of lobbying for regulation of midwifery services provided by midwives from other countries and pockets of non-registered midwives across Canada. Ontario became the first province to regulate midwifery in 1994. Other provinces and territories followed. PEI is the last province in Canada to offer registration to midwives—our long-term work resulted in midwifery services becoming regulated in PEI in October 2022.
PEIMA today
Today, the mandate of the Association is to support midwives and help sustain the practice of midwifery in PEI.
The organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of the Executive Committee, Public Members representing the three PEI counties, representatives of the Indigenous community, and a midwifery student. One of the Board members acts as the Professional Liability Insurance Director and performs all duties related to professional liability insurance for practicing midwives in PEI.
The Association's membership consists of practicing and retired midwives, students enrolled in midwifery education programs, supportive members and honorary members.
Purpose
The purpose of PEIMA is to:
- promote and support the profession of regulated midwifery in Prince Edward Island;
- advocate for the ongoing development and expansion of midwifery services;
- lobby for access to midwifery educational programs in Atlantic Canada;
- lobby for Indigenous midwifery education pathways and Indigenous midwifery practice;
- promote and support research and evidence-informed practice in midwifery care;
- provide continuing education opportunities for its members;
- protect the interests of its members;
- represent the professional interests and protect the rights of midwives, who are PEIMA members, practicing in PEI;
- raise public awareness of the role and function of the profession of midwifery;
- provide a framework for communication and support among midwives and members;
- actively participate in the national and international midwifery community;
- request representation of midwives on committees that address maternity care, midwifery care, newborn care, and reproductive health;
- present the views of the midwifery profession to the public, media, government, healthcare organizations and other professional groups;
- engage in a mutually supportive relationship with the Canadian Association of Midwives in matters related to the province’s midwives; and
- recognize the definition of a midwife and the key midwifery concepts outlined by the International Confederation of Midwives and the Canadian Association of Midwives.
