In Canada....

Midwifery is still a "new" profession and there is currently only three provinces that have schools for midwifery (Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec).

In Ontario, there are three universities which offer the 4 year midwifery program. Individuals are able to apply out of high school, however the majority of individuals who become accepted into the program have previous degrees.

Year 1 consists purely of in school academic work including courses in anatomy & physiology, women's studies, social work. The basics of midwifey are studied and there is alot of emphasis on the ethics of midwifery. Each student also spends one or two shifts on the labor floor to observe births. Then you get a summer off....

The first half of Year 2 continues to be in school academic work, with focus on pharmacology, reproductive physiology and an introduction to midwifery clinical skills.
Our first clinical placement begins the second semester of year 2 (and that is what I'm doing now!). With this placement, we spend 3 1/2 months at a midwifery clinic and essentially follow one or two midwives. Emphasis is put on giving informed choice discussions, laboring monitoring, labor support and most students end up doing quite a few four handed catches with a few being allowed to catch on their own depending on who their preceptor is. During the placement, students attend an online midwifery class once a week for three hours. Then you get a summer off....

Year 3 begins with another clinical placement. Similar to the previous placement, but the student is expected to know more and is given a little more independence. During the second semester of year 3 we do our community placements. This consists of one month following an OB (some even get to assist in c-sections), one month with the nurses on the labor floor and one month elective (Which could be with lactation consultants, at NICUs, with naturapathic doctors, or where ever else you feel would be beneficial to your midwifery education). No summer off!

Year 4 is a year long clinical placement and there is a focus on emergency situations that can arise during pregnancy and birth.

Also, before each clinical placement all students from each of the three universities gather together for an "intensive" course regarding the new skills they are suppose to master in the upcoming placement. This intensive usually lasts one week.


The midwifery education program in British Columbia was modeled after Ontario program and therefore it is quite similar and I am unsure of the structure of the midwifery program in Quebec as that is a purely french program.


Overall, there are ample job prospects for midwifery here in Canada (atleast in some provinces). In Ontario approximately 40% of women who seek a midwife are unable to get one. The waiting lists are huge and some communities do not have midwives at all! With that said, many Canadians are still very uneducated about midwifery and its existence in our country. The word is spreading though and as more and more women are telling others about their positive experiences the demand for midwives grows even larger!

British Columbia also appears to be in desperate need for midwives!

In the other provinces in which midwifery is not funded by the government (ie Alberta, Nova Scotia), the demand is not as large as many women are not willing to pay for the service out of their pockets, but still many midwives are able to maintain employment there.