Name
Brenda
Tribal Nation
Inuk
Restore
Brenda Epoo, an Inuk Midwife, was born in Montreal, 5000 kilometers from her home and village in Nunavik, Quebec. Her mother, Lizzie Epoo-York, who was sixteen at the time, was escorting an Inuit elder in Montreal when she gave birth. If she had not been in Montreal when her waters broke, I would have been born in Moose Factory, a Cree community across James Bay where Inuit women from Inukjuak used to be evacuated for birth.
Where Inuit people live and die and where they are born have been very political issues in the last hundred years, rarely under Inuit control and self-determination. Brenda has worked her whole life to change that and to bring strength, courage, kindness, and some control back to the birthing families of Nunavik.
As part of Brenda’s journey into motherhood, she insisted on birthing her son in her community among the life-giving elements of her homeland. To Inuk, their homeland means everything. It is their home and their livelihood. Everything gives life: the land, the islands, the lakes, the rivers, and the seas. Brenda’s son is a part of all this.
Inukjuak is a small village on the Hudson Bay coast in the Inuit territory of Nunavik. Brenda lived in Inukjuak all her life. She was primarily raised by her maternal grandparents, Emily and Lazarusie Epoo. Emily gave birth to her mother, Lizzie Epoo-York, in a tent on the land. In the early part of her life, Brenda’s mother, Lizzie, saw a lot of change. This inspired her mother’s efforts to get midwifery up and running in Nunavik, with culture and language at the center.
Brenda grew up living close to an elder traditional Inuk midwife, Minnie Palliser, a relative of her mother. Even as a little girl, Brenda knew she would become a midwife. Her family gave her the support and the confidence to stay on the path they knew was my calling. She has been on the front lines to bring birth back home for the families of Nunavik. Brenda has devoted her life to strengthening Inuit Midwifery and the rise of midwifery in all remote places to improve the health and safety of Indigenous birthing families.
Brenda was among the first two midwives to graduate from the newly recognized Innulitsivik Midwifery Education Program in 2006. She is a registered midwife at Inukjuak Maternity and a Midwifery Education Coordinator at the Innulitsivik Health Centre. The center is considered a model for remote maternity care and Indigenous Midwifery nationally and internationally; language and culture are incorporated into care as a way to heal from colonialism. As a mentor, Brenda emphasizes the importance of cultivating professional and cultural relationships with other Indigenous midwives across Canada and worldwide.
