Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Why It Matters for Birthworkers
Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Many of us grew up with the phrase, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” What we weren’t taught is the truth: Columbus did not discover anything. Indigenous Peoples have lived and birthed on this land for tens of thousands of years. What followed Columbus’s arrival was not discovery, but colonization, enslavement, theft, displacement, and genocide. In the century after European contact, Indigenous communities in the Americas lost as much as 95% of their population1.
And yet, Indigenous Peoples are still here. They continue to resist, adapt, renew, and nurture life. Indigenous Peoples’ Day, celebrated on the second Monday in October, is a recognition of this ongoing resilience and cultural survival. It is also a call to action: to learn the truths of history, to reject erasure, and to honour Indigenous communities as the original and current stewards of this land.
Why Indigenous Peoples’ Day Matters for Birthworkers
As birthworkers, we know birth is never separate from context. To show up in birthwork without understanding the enduring harms of colonization is to risk repeating patterns of erasure and harm. While Canada has a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the United States still upholds Columbus Day; a holiday that celebrates conquest and obscures genocide. Choosing to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day is part of dismantling this silence.
Using Indigenous Peoples’ Day to Learn, Reflect, and Strengthen Your Birthwork
Just as we reflected during Truth and Reconciliation Day, we invite birthworkers in the US to use this day as an opportunity to:
- Learn the histories your school may not have taught you.
- Follow and learn from Indigenous birth workers who carry deep, generational knowledge about birth, land, and community care.
- Reflect on your own role as a birth worker: how can you make your practice more accountable, more informed, and more rooted in justice?
- Celebrate not only the resilience of Indigenous communities, but also the joy, brilliance, and continuity of Indigenous birthwork.
We cannot rewrite history, but we can decide how we engage with it. Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not only about mourning what was taken. It is also about recognizing the brilliance that endures. As birthworkers, our work is strengthened when we learn from Indigenous traditions of kinship, ceremony, and holistic care.
Take this day not as a holiday, but as a responsibility: a chance to listen, reflect, and align your birthwork with the truth of the lands you live and work on.
By Aunjrya Fleming, EDI Lead, Doula School International
About the Author: Aunjrya Fleming
EDI Lead, Doula School International
Aunjrya is the EDI lead for Doula School. She is a Registered Nurse and International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) with a deep commitment to reproductive justice. She brings years of experience working with racialized, refugee, and 2SLGBTQIA+ families as a maternal health navigator, educator, and advocate. Aunjrya is passionate about building equity-informed spaces that center safety, dignity, and agency for all birthing people.