ManitobaThe province announced Monday they will be bringing midwifery services to Manitoba’s Interlake region. The NDP government said it’s introducing a new midwifery program in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority Region, based in Selkirk, Man. Midwives Association of Manitoba president called Monday’s announcement ‘momentous’CBC News · Posted: Nov 17, 2025 8:19 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province is bringing midwifery services to Manitoba’s Interlake region. The announcement was made at a Monday press conference in Selkirk, Man. (CBC)The province announced Monday it will be bringing midwifery services to Manitoba’s Interlake region. “This is huge,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said at a press conference held at the Selkirk Regional Health Centre in Selkirk, Man., on Monday. “This is something that is going to help transform care. Women, their families and communities have been asking for this for a long time.”The province said it’s introducing a new midwifery program in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority Region which will be based in Selkirk, a city of approximately 10,000 people, located about 25 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The program will begin with two full-time midwives who will offer prenatal visits, labour and birth support, newborn care, postpartum follow-up and reproductive sexual health care out of a new midwifery office at 100 Easton Dr. in Selkirk.“Midwives are the link between medical expertise and human connection,” Asagwara said. “They guide families through pregnancy, through birth and post-partum care with skill and empathy and cultural humility, whether it’s in hospitals, clinics or homes.“And for far too long, families in this region have not had access to midwifery care, they have not had access to the expertise that midwives provide, and so expecting parents have had to travel elsewhere for the kind of personalized expert care that they really need.”Sarah Harpe, the president of the Midwives Association of Manitoba, called Monday’s announcement “momentous,” saying the region has been without midwifery services for more than two decades. The province said pregnant women who live in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority region can access prenatal intake by telling their family doctor or nurse practitioner about their interest in the program. People can also self-refer by calling 204-482-2150 or emailing prenatalintake@ierha.ca. The health authority says it will connect everyone who calls or has been referred to prenatal intake with a midwife or a family doctor for prenatal care.With files from Cameron MacIntosh
Midwifery services expand to Manitoba’s Interlake region
