Wendy St. Laurent-Coutts RM: NP-PHC/ MPH: BScN; PhD (c)
On February 29th, 1988, I arrived in a remote Northwestern Ontario community. Having arrived there directly from London, England where I had lived for the 8 years immediately prior, it was a bit of a culture shock. I cried! I questioned! “What choice had I made?” especially as midwifery was not yet legislated in Canada. Yet, how I felt when I arrived is in no way reflective of how long I would stay in Northwestern Ontario. I never thought I would stay for two months let alone almost 35 years.
Despite the initial geographical and culture shock, the experiences attained have been foundational to excellent experiential and knowledge opportunities that have since guided my career. Rural and remote obstetrics was so different from the urban and midwifery-based practice with which I was more familiar. However, I quickly learned that rural practice can be both extremely challenging and yet very rewarding.
To provide some context, I share the following: I am of mixed-race ancestry. I was born and raised in the Caribbean Island of Trinidad & Tobago, one year before our country gained independence from the British colony. I am therefore no stranger to colonialism and racism. In fact, lived experiences have informed both my personal and professional approaches.
I left my family home in Trinidad at the age of 18 and moved to England where I completed both my Registered Nurse and Registered Midwife education programs. In England I worked predominantly as a Midwife, becoming a midwifery ‘Sister’ (charge position) at the age of 25. One year later, for family reasons, I moved to Canada. While moving to England had been a socio-personal and cultural challenge (moving a continent away from my family and to the mother country of colonialism), the professional transition on moving to Canada was even more difficult, primarily because, midwifery (my chosen profession) was not yet legislated. Furthermore, the firsthand experiences of systemic biases, inequities, barriers, and the poor treatment of racialized childbearing women and their families who reside in Northwestern Ontario, would compound my ethical and moral challenges. These experiences have been foundational to my career path and research goals.
Over my career I have gained excellent insight and valuable experience in urban, rural, and remote health systems, neonatal intensive care, labour- delivery as an RN, as a Registered Midwife in Ontario, a PHC Nurse Practitioner, and now as an educator within the BScN program at Lakehead University. My Masters in in Public and Population Health, and my PhD in Education have focused on barriers and inequities that impact childbearing families who reside in rural, remote, and socio-ecologically disenfranchised communities that predominate in regions like Northwestern Ontario.