Hi, I am Paloma Terra, I go by the pronouns she/her/hers. I am a mother of two young adults born with midwives in a Birth Centre in Canada in the 1990s when midwives were being re-integrated into the Canadian Health Care System in Quebec. After my positive birth experiences, I left Anthropology, to train as a Direct Entry midwife in Texas and became a Certified Professional Midwife through the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM) in 2008.
I returned to my home country of Brazil in 2009, where I went on to build and maintain a successful 9 year private practice as a community midwife attending planned home births. I have been vice-president of ReHuNa, The Brazilian Network for Humanization of Childbirth, since 2017.
Now back in Canada since 2019, I am currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Global Health at Huron University College at Western. I live and study on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek (Ah-nish-in-a-bek), Haudenosaunee (Ho-den-no-show-nee), Lūnaapéewak (Len-ahpay- wuk) and Attawandaron (Add-a-won-da-run) peoples, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) whom I recognize and honour as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of our Canadian society.
I am passionate about midwifery, childbirth, pre and perinatal psychology and issues relating to equity, anti-oppressive and decolonial frameworks. As a Brazilian and Canadian citizen and through a 26 year marriage to a wonderful French Canadian man, I came to appreciate and experience firsthand the many issues involved in intercultural relations and exchange. I am very happy to be part of VIDM in order to continue to contribute to the construction of an equitable Global Midwifery Community. I am happy to talk to you and exchange ideas be it in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish, please get in touch!
