The Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) is seeking input from midwives, stakeholders, and the public on the proposed key elements of the Midwifery Profession Regulations.

These regulations would modernize how midwifery is regulated in the NWT by bringing the profession under the Health and Social Services Professions Act (HSSPA). This Act supports consistent rules for licensing, registration, and professional accountability for health and social services professions.

Highlights of the proposal include:

• Expanding the scope of practice to include sexual and reproductive health services for the public.
• Allowing registered midwives to provide well-adult and well-child care to their clients and their clients’ children beyond the pregnancy/perinatal period.
• Creating new registration categories: General, Student, Provisional, Courtesy, and Expanded.
• Providing a new route of registration for graduates of approved Indigenous community-based education programs.
• Offering new options for registered midwives who are not providing clinical care to meet their continuing competency requirements.

These proposed changes would align midwifery in the NWT with national best practices and help improve access to safe, culturally responsive care across the territory.

Midwives, stakeholders, and the public are invited to participate in this process by reviewing the discussion paper https://haveyoursay.nwt-tno.ca/midwives-regulations. Your feedback can be emailed to dhssregs_feedback@gov.nt.ca.

For more details on the proposed changes and to access the discussion paper, please visit:

• https://haveyoursay.nwt-tno.ca/midwives-regulations

Deadline for feedback is June 12, 2025.

For media requests, please contact:

Andrew Wind
Manager, Communications
Health and Social Services
Government of the Northwest Territories
Andrew_Wind@gov.nt.ca   
867-767-9052, poste 49034