In this Kanien'kehá:ka birth helpers collective, women are empowering each other
Ka’nhehsí:io Deer
Helping empower women is at the heart of what a collective of Kanien'ke‐ há:ka birth helpers are doing in their community.
They're called Kon‐ wati'shatstenhsherawi's, which means "women are giving each other power" in Kanien'kéha, or the Mohawk language.
"We're communal peo‐ ple," said Jody Jacobs, who is part of the collective which is based in Kahnawà:ke, south of Montreal.
"After colonization, our families sort of separated. As the generations have gone on, there are no longer many multi-generational homes and we're all sort of nuclear."
Jacobs is one of four co-in‐ structors with the collective who are training a new co‐ hort of birth helpers to pro‐ vide non-medical maternal support and education to ex‐ pecting parents and their families throughout preg‐ nancy, labour, and postpar‐ tum.
She said the major differ‐ ence between a standard doula training and what Kon‐ wati'shatstenhsherawi's is doing is the incorporation of traditional Kanien'kehá:ka teachings and customs linked to maternal care.
Training, which started in August, takes place two evenings a week at the First Nations Regional Adult Edu‐ cation Center in Kahnawà:ke and will wrap at the end of the month.
"It's super-fulfilling and it's something that I'm really pas‐ sionate about," said Patricia Kahentanóron Gabriel, who is among the 10 participants in the program.
Gabriel, who is from Kane‐ satake, northwest of Mon‐ treal, works with the Kanesa‐ take Health Center's mater‐ nal child health department and had previously taken doula training.
"I'm seeing it in a different lens," said Gabriel.
"When I first started it, I was like, OK, I'm a doula. But now I see it as my responsi‐ bility as a woman to help support other women."
Konwati'shatstenhsheraw‐ i's started in 2017 as a grass‐ roots program. Instructor Lee Scott said Kahnawà:ke had a long history of mothers, grandmothers and aunties who took on the role of mid‐ wives. She hopes the pro‐ gram will help move the com‐ munity back toward that.
"It feels like a dream come true," said Scott.
"I really hope that they in‐ ternalize more of who we are and why it's important to be supporting women during birth. The best case scenario is not to have a solo birth, the best-case scenario is to have support."
High demand for birth helpers
Kanorarihtha Albany and Taionthahine Nicholas took the training in 2017, and have been the most active birth helpers in the commu‐ nity in the last few years.
They said many of the families they've worked with weren't aware of their op‐ tions, rights, or were hesitant to ask for help.
"They just go to the hospi‐ tal thinking 'Whatever the doctor tells me in this 15minute window is what I have to abide by and listen to,'" said Albany.
"They don't know they can say no, or they don't know they can ask questions."
That was the case for Ionkwaietisakhe Hemlock, who had both women as her birth helpers on her fifth, sixth and seventh pregnan‐ cies.
"I remember people writ‐ ing on Facebook, 'You're on your seventh or your fifth kid, why do you need a doula? You know what you're doing but there was so much knowledge out there and every birth is different,'" said Hemlock, who is also a part of the latest cohort being trained.
"It was amazingly way dif‐ ferent; I had a lot of support. I didn't know I had a voice in there."
Albany said the number of clients has been over‐ whelming and she is looking forward to having more women trained and helping.
"It feels good to know that there's other women who are passionate about it, other women who are going to be there for the women in the community because the de‐ mand is so high," she said.