ons to midwifery--"for undercutting doctors' fees, and for allegedly dangerous practices" (Burtch, 1994, p. 78)--midwifery declined, and doctors took over an increasing role in the "medicalization" of birthing. Even attempts to further train midwives were resisted, and the idea that European-trained midwives might bring an advanced knowledge to the trade was not even considered. New legislation removed the protective status of female birth attendants set out in the 1806 legislation.
Canada's evolving geographics appear to have as much to do with diminishing midwifery as the medical profession's biases against it. As Burtch (1994) recounts, "Opposition to lay midwives was generally tempered by the geographical distribution of the Canadian population" (p. 79). Because Canada's population prior to the early part of the twentieth-century was primarily rural, birthing was often left to neighbouring women, and to one's extended family of friends and relatives. The key element to consider in this situation, as Burtch (1994) observes, is the fact that "in such regions, a nurse-midwife, that is, a nurse trained in midwifery, could render invaluable services, without encroaching upon the field of the physician" (p. 79).
The dramatic cultural shift which promoted the skills of physicians and surgeons over those of midwives may be seen in the following statistic: 40 per cent of Canadian mothers delivered in hospital in 1939, and 93 per cent delivered in hospital by 1959 (Bur
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