‘At a tipping point,’ midwives are leaving Ontario due to burnout and low pay, report says

Ontario’s midwives are leaving the province, as demand for their services skyrockets amid low pay.

In a press release, the Association of Ontario Midwives (AOM) demanded that the Ministry of Health hold them in the same esteem as other healthcare professionals or run the risk of losing an entire caregiving sector.

According to a third-party report, compensation for public sector workers, such as midwives, has been significantly capped compared to others in the provincial health care sector (doctors, nurses, etc.).

Based on numbers found in the release, the only movement allowed for midwife pay in Ontario is an increase of one per cent every three years — margins the AOM states are impossible to manage amid high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis.

“Ontarians know the value of midwifery care, but government continually denies midwives these fundamental rights, and midwives are suffering from the effects,” said Elizabeth Brandeis, midwife and negotiator with the AOM, in an official statement.

Midwives, according to the AOM, provide crucial care to roughly 30,000 Ontario families every year, accounting for 20 per cent of all newborn births in the province.

However, one in seven qualified midwives are leaving Ontario en masse due to burnout, while demand for midwifery services has grown exponentially, as 6,600 Ontarians were denied midwifery care due to shortages between 2023 and 2024.

“Midwifery in Ontario is at a tipping point…. We are concerned that, without intervention, this trend will continue, and Ontarians will be without access to midwifery care,” declared a recent statement from the College of Midwives of Ontario.

Further information from the AOM stated that the fight against burnout (and for adequate wages) has been a pressing issue for decades.

As a result of the third-party report recently collected on behalf of the AOM, it has been tabled as part of the ongoing mediation process between the organization and the province.

However, according to the report, the Ministry of Health has since rejected the Mediator’s independent recommendations.

A pressing concern for all midwife organizations in Ontario, as, despite the ongoing exodus of midwives and alleged inadequate compensation, those dedicated to the service continue to work — as per the AOM’s report, “Pregnancy and childbirth are health care experiences that cannot be paused, rescheduled or put on a waitlist.”