On May 16, Lanie Hurdle, Commissioner of Community Services for the City of Kingston, and Housing Department Director Sheldon Laidman, gave a presentation to Frontenac County on social housing programs offered by the city, which is the consolidated service manager for housing programs for Frontenac County as well.

Hurdle described a continuum of housing needs, ranging from the extreme situation faced by people who make use of emergency shelters, to rent supplemented and affordable housing, up to the affordable home ownership program that has been recently launched.

Sheldon Laidman, who has only been working for the City for six months, has been involved in the development of a municipal housing strategy. Of the 40 recommendations for implementation of the strategy, Laidman said, “Thirteen are specific to the county.”

Some of those recommendations deal with improved co-ordination and communication between the city and the county, and others deal with streamlining planning to make it easier to improve the social housing stock in the county.

While the recommendations don’t carry any commitment for new money to county-based housing initiatives, they at least demonstrate that the county may be getting more attention from the city as far as housing and homelessness is concerned.

Unlike other services that the City of Kingston has been providing to residents of Frontenac County ever since municipal amalgamation took place in 1998, such as Ontario Works and Childcare, the housing needs of Frontenac County residents have not been high on the city’s agenda

It took several interventions by Frontenac County Council and staff to secure a county component to a recently completed homelessness study that the city undertook. Securing a position for a member of Frontenac County Council on the Kingston Housing and Homelessness sub-committee also required some lobbying of Kingston City Council, and only members of Kingston City Council and appointees who are Kingston residents are permitted to sit on the Board of Directors of the Kingston and Frontenac Housing Corporation.

John McDougall is the county council representative to the Housing and Homelessness Committee.

“I find that it is a lonely task sitting on the housing and homelessness committee. I wish another resident of the county was on the committee,” he said at last week’s meeting of Frontenac County Council.

The presentation by Hurdle and Laidman, who both are relatively new to their positions, demonstrated on at least one instance that the city is not completely up to speed on the realities of public housing and housing supports in Frontenac County.

As was pointed out by county council member John Purdon, the presentation included an inventory of social housing units in Frontenac County, coming up with a total of 161. However, 60 of those are at Country Pines in Glenburnie, which is located in the City of Kingston, and they are managed by Town Homes Kingston.

Within Frontenac County, there are 28 units at McMullen Manor in Verona; 55 units of seniors housing run by the Loughborough Housing Corporation in Sydenham (Maple Ridge and Meadowbrook); and 18 units in and around Sharbot Lake that are managed by the North Frontenac Not For Profit Housing Corporation, for a total of 101 units.

As to services in the county, Southern Frontenac Community Services manages both a rent bank and utility bank program to which all county residents may apply for emergency support.

While most of the proposed initiatives in the upcoming Investment in Affordable Housing Program are geared to new construction in the city, the Ontario Renovates program is going to be geared to low-income rural homeowners, and Sheldon Laidman said he anticipated that the majority of Ontario Renovated projects would be in the county.

In response to the presentation, Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle asked why no projects have ever been located on Wolfe or Howe Island.

“I don’t think we’ve communicated very well to the general public,” said Laidman. “Construction for units is often done by individuals or community groups, not necessarily municipalities.”

Warden Janet Gutowski said that, “with a number of recommendations in the new housing strategy referencing the county, we are now on the right track going forward but we still have communication challenges.”

Photo: L-r: Linda Rush, Susan Wilby, Grey Turney and Catherine Tysick

It's always the same. Winter saves a last blast for the third Monday in April, the date of the annual Northern Frontenac Community Service (NFCS) Annual Volunteer appreciation lunch. The church parking lot is full, so it's a long cold walk from the far end of the lot, down the slick hill to the bottom level where the church hall is located.

Inside it's warm. The smell of food filters out of the kitchen. The tables are filled with volunteers from the many programs run by the agency, which in the words of emcee Mike Procter of the Adult Protective Services program at NFCS, offers “cradle to grave” service to residents of North, Central, and parts of South Frontenac Township.

From students who volunteer at the Child Centre, to friendly visitors who help shut-ins maintain their connection to the local community, NFCS volunteers are a diverse group, but they share some common interests, including a love of good food, camaraderie, a commitment to community, and the ability to groan at Mike Procter’s jokes.

After eating lasagne with salad, tea and coffee, and of course, cake, it was time for the presentations. Each of the 100 plus volunteers at the lunch was presented with a certificate and a lime green shopping bag with the NFCS logo on it.

This year, the NFCS Volunteer of the Year award went to Greg Turney, a volunteer driver who exemplifies NFCS's determination to provide service for all ages. Turney drives children for the Child Centre, and adults and seniors through Frontenac Transportation Services, one of the outreach programs that Northern Frontenac Community Services offers.

[For more than 2 decades Rural Legal Services (RLS) has written Legalese, a legal information column kindly published by the Frontenac News. It has recently been recognized by our colleagues in the Legal Advocacy Regional Network (LEARN) of which our clinic is a member, as a means to achieve its goal of improving access to justice and legal information to people who live in small urban and rural and remote areas of Eastern Ontario. Following our lead, LEARN is proposing to write a monthly legal information newspaper column under the banner LEARN LAW for publication in newspapers across the 5 county region of Frontenac, Lennox & Addington, Hastings, Prince Edward and Northumberland. LEARN column writers include local lawyers, the staff of community legal clinics such as RLS and representatives of Legal Aid Ontario.

Rural Legal Services will continue to write its own Legalese column but will provide the monthly LEARN LAW columns as they become available.]

If you are struggling with a breakdown in your relationship with your spouse, you may be confused about your legal rights and obligations or frustrated about the way our legal system works. There are a number of reliable and easy to understand online resources available to help you. You should be very careful when you read legal information on the internet. You must make sure the information is correct, up-to-date, and applicable to your jurisdiction (i.e. to make sure that you are looking at information that applies to Ontario). Legal information online is not a substitute for legal advice. You should consult a lawyer if you have a legal problem.

The following is a list of some of the available online resources:

Legal Aid Ontario’s (LAO’s) website has an interactive learning application called the “Family Law Information Program” (http://www.legalaid.on.ca/en/getting/flip.asp), which provides a lot of information and explains the family law process from start to finish.

Community legal clinics in Ontario do not practice family law, but the Community Advocacy & Legal Centre’s website has a section dedicated to the topic at http://www.communitylegalcentre.ca/referrals/Family_Law.htm. Lawyers at Rural Legal Services also provide legal information and referrals in family law matters.

Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) has developed resources that are designed to take the mystery out of this system and help you understand what needs to be done to ensure that your rights are upheld. You can find this information online at www.yourlegalrights.on.ca. CLEO’s information is also available in pamphlets that can be picked up at your local community legal clinic.

Another excellent online resource is Family Law Education for Women (FLEW), which is available at www.onefamilylaw.ca. Here you will find legal information available in 14 languages, including American Sign Language. This website also allows you to listen to the information through your speakers or headphones.

The National Association of Women and the Law has also produced a guide for women about money, relationships and the law in Ontario at www.nawl.ca/money. You are encouraged to plan ahead, talk to your partner and know your rights!

Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General has extensive information about family law on its website at (http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/family/). This website can help you if you are wondering what to expect when you have to go to court. It also has a section with links to websites and books for children, which can help them understand what is happening.

If you are looking for Family Court forms, you can find them here: http://www.ontariocourtforms.on.ca/english/. This website also has a “Forms Assistant” that will guide you through filling out the most common court forms.

If you are wondering about monthly payments for child support, you can check out the Department of Justice’s “Child Support Online Lookup” tool at http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/pi/fcy-fea/lib-bib/tool-util/apps/look-rech/index.asp.

This column is not intended to provide legal advice; it is just general legal information provided by volunteer local lawyers and the staff of community legal clinics and Legal Aid Ontario. The law can change. You must contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations. If you are living on a low income, you may be eligible for free legal help from Legal Aid Ontario (criminal, family or immigration) or your local community legal clinic (income security programs, employment law, tenants’ rights, or human rights). You can reach Legal Aid Ontario at 1-800-668-8258 or visit them online at www.legalaid.on.ca. Contact Rural Legal Services (613) 279-3252 or toll free 1-888-777-8916 for more information.

Photo: 3rd Annual Sharbot Lake Seniors Fair organizers, l-r- Jennifer Allan, Marcel Giroux, Catherine Tysick and Laura Baldwin (Joyce Bigelow not in photo) 

Seniors looking to live life to the fullest had a myriad of professional services and products to peruse at the third annual Sharbot Lake Seniors Fair, which took place at the St. James Major church hall on May 7.

Those who attended had a chance to speak to a number of professionals from various community groups and organizations, including Northern Frontenac Community Services, Northern Connections Adult Learning Centre, KFL&A Public Health, the Alzheimer's and Canadian Diabetes Societies, the Helix Hearing Center, Becker Shoes, Canadian Mortgage and Housing and the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team. Visitors were entertained with live music, food and watched numerous demonstrations by various local activity groups.

The event was organized by Marcel Giroux, Jennifer Allan, Laura Baldwin, Catherine Tysick and Joyce Bigelow. Laura Baldwin, who is the program manager at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, said the fair is important since it “connects seniors in the community to available local services that can help them to live fuller and healthier lives.”

Photo: The Working Group of the North and Central Frontenac Area Seniors Health and Fitness Directory, l-r, Kelly Cowdy, Dorothy Fraser, Ray Fletcher, Betty-Anne Blyth, Ruth Pearce, Joyce Bigelow and Susan Leslie Campbell. Courtesy of Betty-Anne Blyth.

Over 4500 residents of North and Central Frontenac received a copy of the North and Central Frontenac Area Seniors Health and Fitness Directory (a.k.a. SHAFD) this past Thursday, which coincided with an official release party at the North Frontenac Telephone Company in Sharbot Lake.

Funded by the Healthy Communities Fund, part of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, the directory has been in the works since July 2011 and was begun when Gail Hawley-Knowles, the former program manager at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, successfully acquired funding for the project.

The project was led by the Northern Connections Adult Learning Centre in partnership with Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS), Sharbot Lake Family Health Team (SLFHT) and Rural Legal Services (RLS). Though an earlier application to do the project was turned down, a second application that included an educational component offered through Northern Connections was approved. The directory was put together by an advisory committee and a working group of volunteers, who through the educational component of the project learned the computer skills needed to gather the information that was included in the directory.

The realization of the need for a single comprehensive directory listing the plethora of seniors health and fitness services available in the two townships was first established by the SLFHT and various seniors groups over three years ago. Joyce Bigelow, executive director at Northern Connections who managed the project, said that she, the volunteers and the partners are extremely pleased and proud of the directory. “The project involved extensive research since we had no pre-existing base to work from. Though we missed a few things, we are extremely pleased with how it turned out and believe that it will be a very useful document for seniors looking for a wide range of services in the community.”

Laura Baldwin, program manager of the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, who picked up on the project where Gail Hawley-Knowles left off, said that the Family Health Team is equally pleased. “To be involved in a project that will be so beneficial to seniors in the community was extremely rewarding. Seniors will now have a comprehensive guide to all of the health and fitness services available to them, which is a great thing.”

Over 8000 copies of the directory were printed and for those who did not receive one, copies can be picked up at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team and Dental Office, NFCS and Northern Connections. An electronic copy of the directory will be available in upcoming weeks on the Central and North Frontenac and Southern Frontenac Community Services websites. Anyone with services to add to the directory can contact staff at Northern Connections at 613-279-2499 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

By Susan Irwin, Executive Director / Lawyer, Rural Legal Services

2011 was not a prolific year for our Legalese Column. Some of you may have noticed its absence and may even have wondered if we were still in business.

I can assure you that we are and that we will strive to have more legal information columns available in 2012. However, like many other public and private organizations, we have had to struggle to meet growing demands for service with limited resources. This means that we have to prioritize what services we provide.

For those of you unfamiliar with our column or our services, Rural Legal Services (RLS) is a community legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario to provide a range of free legal services to the residents of northern Frontenac and northern Lennox & Addington counties with the overriding objective of promoting access to justice for area residents.

Under the governance of a locally elected six-member Board of Directors, RLS is staffed by two lawyers and one secretary to deliver the following free services:

• legal information to all area residents regardless of income

• casework and representation before courts and tribunals in certain areas of the law for lower income individuals who qualify financially and

• public legal education.

Our free Information and public legal education services include:

• identifying whether or not an individual has a “legal” problem

• identifying the legal issues

• discussing whether an individual needs a lawyer and how to go about finding one if we are unable to take the case

• identifying whether there are other services, such as government ministries or agencies, that may be able to provide further assistance

• providing general information on legal topics including the distribution of pamphlets and brochures and referrals to web based resources

• offering public legal education sessions, and

• writing an information newspaper column, “Legalese”

Many people who have never had to see a lawyer before tell us how helpful this service is in determining how to approach or deal with a legal problem. Others have remarked favorably on the information provided in our Legalese column. If publication of our Legalese column should continue to be a service priority for RLS, please let us know.

We would also welcome hearing from you if you require legal information or require legal assistance. Please give us a call at 613-279-3252 or toll free at 1-888-777-8916. Alternatively you may visit us at 14064 Road 38 in Sharbot Lake or at our branch office in Northbrook at Land o’ Lakes Community Services Corporation.

Happy 2012! We look forward to hearing from you.

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.

The Kingston Frontenac Public Library (KFPL) Board opted for continuity when they chose Patricia Enright as their new Head Librarian/Chief Executive Officer late last fall, replacing Deborah Defoe at the start of this year.

For the past 7 ½ years Enright has been the Director of Children's and Rural Services at the integrated library city/county library, and before that she was the chief librarian at both the Clarington and Port Hope public libraries.

She came to Kingston in 2004 not only to join a larger organization, but also for the opportunity to go back to school and earn a Masters degree in Public Administration at Queen's.

“I really love Kingston, and I have loved working in the county as well, so when the chief librarian job came open I was ready to make the commitment,” she said of her decision to apply for the libraries’ top job.

The KFPL has a financial relationship with the City of Kingston and the County of Frontenac. The individual townships within the County are involved as well as they own and maintain the library facilities within their own boundaries.

“We have worked with the townships quite a lot in recent years, with North Frontenac on upgrades to the Plevna and Cloyne branches, with South Frontenac on the Storrington branch and the new Sydenham branch last year, and with Frontenac Islands for the Wolfe Island branch,” she said.

While there have been no changes in Central Frontenac, there likely will be in the coming couple of years.

“We have a three-way relationship with regards to the branch in Parham, between the library, the township and the school board because the board owns the portable we use, which is attached to the school,” she said regarding the pending closure of Hinchinbrooke Public School in 2013. An upgrade to the Arden branch is also planned for some time in the future.

One major issue that is being faced by the entire world of books and reading is the explosion of e-readers, tablet computers and e-books, and while the KFPL has the technology in place to deliver e-books, the rights situation for e-books is still in flux, and this has an impact on the acquisition budget of the library.

“People think they should be able to download e-books at will, but it is not that simple. The digital rights management system that is available is called Overdrive, and our agreement is that only one person at a time can access the books at a time. And some publishers will only sell the rights for a single copy. So people end up putting holds on the digital versions of books just like they do for the physical version.”

Library staff are also doing a lot of work demonstrating how different e-reading systems work. In fact, two of the Kingston branches are offering weekly e-reading and e-audio help sessions on an ongoing basis.

The challenge of adapting to e-reading is just another of the changes that have been faced by libraries during Patricia Enright's career.

“There have been more technological changes affecting libraries over the last 15 years than in the previous 100,” Enright said. “When I walk around in each of our branches now, I see people using all kinds of laptops to connect to our Wifi service. They do everything from filing EI [Employment Insurance] claims to using Facebook, reading newspapers and magazines that are available in paper and digital form. At the same time we still have people borrowing all kinds of materials to take home. The media might change, but our mission remains the same, connecting people with books, supporting literacy, that remains the same; we are very much a vital service.”

Patricia Enright has heard for many years that libraries are relics from a bygone era, but she points out that the KFPL is busier than it has ever been. Some of the improvements that have been made have had a direct impact on that use.

“When we look at the new Sydenham branch, we see that the use is up about 50% from where it was before, so the investment that was made has paid off and will continue to pay off,” she said.

With Patricia Enright taking on the chief librarian role, there has been a reshuffling of responsibilities. Barb Love is now the manager of Adult Services and Rural branches, and responsibility for Children's Services has gone to Lester Webb, who is also responsible for Systems and Technical Services.

A new position is being planned as well, a manager for outreach and programming.

While the library branches in the city and county and KFPL.ca bring significant access for people, Enright said that the focus on further outreach is all about expanding the reach of the KFPL further into the life of Kingston and Frontenac County.

Photo: Jeannine Albert of Plevna in the new retrofitted NFCS van, which can now offer subsidized wheelchair accessible transportation to clients in central and north Frontenac. Courtesy of Catherine Tysick

For those in need of wheelchair-accessible transportation, Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) can help. With their recent acquisition of a 2001 retrofitted Chevy Venture van in October 2011, the organization for the first time ever is able to offer their clients in Central and North Frontenac subsidized wheelchair-accessible transportation. Clients now will be able to arrange transportation to medical and other appointments.

The benefit to clients is huge, since prior to the purchase clients needing such transportation had to rely on private transportation services provided either through Lanark County or the City of Kingston, which due to the long distances involved could be quite expensive. Clients now can receive the service at a reduced fee due to having a vehicle in the area.

Catherine Tysick, the community support manager at NFCS, is currently the only driver qualified to drive the van and she has been trained in the methods of properly securing different types of chairs into the van. To date the van has made four trips, three for a client in Plevna attending medical appointments at Hotel Dieu hospital in Kingston, and the fourth for a client in Westport needing to attend a medical appointment in Sharbot Lake.

While Catherine says that NFCS at this point has not been inundated with requests for the service, she also said that the number of calls for the service are increasing. “Though some people may be able to afford this service from other private area service providers, many cannot, so this is another important service that we can offer our clients, which enables them to stay in their homes longer by allowing them to access the services they need. We just got a call recently, for example, from someone looking for respite services but who requires wheelchair-accessible transportation to get them there. We are also hoping to be able to train the client’s personal support worker, who will then be able to provide the necessary transportation.”

Tysick said that the safe transfer of clients in wheelchairs can often be what is preventing clients from making even just short local trips to area services. “Transferring is what can be difficult, and is often when dangerous falls can occur, so to be able to offer our clients this service is an important and also very wonderful thing.” Catherine is looking for volunteer drivers interested in taking the necessary training course needed to qualify them to drive the van. Anyone interested can call Catherine Tysick at NFCS at 613-279-3151.

By Susan Irwin, Executive Director / Lawyer, Rural Legal Services

The breadth of information available at our fingertips is truly amazing and exciting. It can also be our biggest challenge! With so much information just a click away on the internet how can you be sure that it’s accurate and reliable?

This challenge is particularly acute for legal information where currency and jurisdiction are key concerns. Our laws are continuously changing, making it important to ask yourself if the legal information you are viewing is current, or up to date, and whether or not it applies to your situation.

When looking at a website, remember that the law in Canada is not the same as the law in the United States or even Great Britain. You must also consider whether the legal problem you are investigating is within provincial or federal control. For example, the federal government is responsible for the welfare and protection of all Canadians through our criminal laws, whereas the provinces have responsibility over such matters as education and property. Bear in mind however, that the laws vary from province to province as does their interpretation by the Courts. While our common law, or “judge made law”, adds richness to Canada’s legal system, it also adds a measure of complexity that should not be overlooked.

All of this is not intended to discourage you from investigating your legal problem but it is intended as a note of caution. You very much need to stop and consider the source the legal information. Government websites have an abundance of legal information but are not always user friendly. Many law firms and paralegal sites also offer some free legal information but often charge a fee for more specific or detailed information.

One site to consider when starting your search for answers to everyday legal questions is www.yourlegalrights.on.ca. Operated by Community Legal Education Ontario through funding from the Law Foundation of Ontario “Your Legal Rights” is an information portal that allows you to access free, practical and easy-to-find legal information produced by hundreds of organizations across Ontario.

The Your Legal Rights site contains the following features:

RESOURCES: Legal information covering a wide range of legal topics, in a variety of formats, and available in dozens of languages

COMMON QUESTIONS: Questions and answers to everyday legal problems 

FIND SERVICES: Interactive map of key legal and social services across Ontario

TRAINING: Public legal education training webinars for service providers

NEWS & EVENTS: The latest headlines and community events about the law and access to justice

If you do not have internet access, or even if you do, but you have more questions or you don’t understand the information on the web, don’t worry, that’s what Rural Legal Services or your lawyer is for.

As a community legal clinic, Rural Legal Services is funded by Legal Aid Ontario to provide free legal information and referrals to the residents of northern Frontenac and northern Lennox & Addington counties.

Legalese is a column of general information and opinion on legal topics by the lawyers of Rural Legal Services, Box 359, Sharbot Lake, ON, K0H2P0, 613-279-3252, or 1-888-777-8916. This column is not intended to provide legal advice. You should contact a lawyer to determine your legal rights and obligations.

Back to HomeFeature Article - February 16, 2012 Local midwife offers services to expectant momsby Julie Druker

Photo: Primary health care provider and registered midwife Amelia Drydyn of Village Midwifery Care is now offering her services to expectant moms in a large catchment area.

Here is some good news for moms-to-be. Amelia Drydyn, a registered midwife with the College of Midwives of Ontario, is now offering her services to expectant moms in a catchment area that includes North and Central Frontenac, Addington Highlands and the Rideau Lakes area.

Amelia recently opened her business, called Village Midwifery Care, along with a colleague Genia Stephen who is also a registered midwife. Amelia is no stranger to the area. She recently made her permanent home at a long-time family cottage near Sharbot Lake and is thrilled to be able to bring her services to clients in the area.

Amelia, who grew up in Toronto and Ottawa, first graduated from the University of Toronto with a science degree in 2001. She then completed a four-year bachelor’s degree program in health science, specializing in Midwifery at Ryerson University in Toronto. She worked at Riverdale Midwives in Toronto while studying at Ryerson and completed her final placement at Seventh Generation Midwives in Toronto, after which time she was hired on as a full time midwife.

With over 100 births under her belt she and her colleague Genia will be providing clinical care to women during their pregnancy, the delivery, and for six weeks following. Their practice specializes in low risk pregnancies and Genia also offers her services as an IBCLC, an internationally certified lactation consultant. Their aims in a nutshell, according to Amelia, are: “To help women have the best birth experience possible. We focus on safety and have all of the necessary equipment and training to make that possible.”

Amelia pointed out the main difference between her services and those offered by other primary health providers like family doctors and obstetricians. Firstly, midwives are the only primary health care providers who can attend a home birth. The other main difference is their philosophy of care.

Amelia said, “While we offer the same tests and clinical care as family doctors and obstetricians, the main differences is that we as midwives offer continuity of care and are on call 24/7 for our clients. One of our primary goals is to form a strong relationship with the client. Our regular scheduled visits are anywhere between a half and one hour so that women are given the time they need to process all of the information and ask any questions that arise. Lastly we use a principle with all of our clients called ‘informed choice’ meaning that every single routine procedure and test is discussed in depth so that our clients can make an informed choice of how they wish to proceed. We discuss all of the options and the client then decides if she would rather deliver at home or in a hospital; the choice is theirs.”

Another service they offer is post-partum home visits. “We will come and check mom and baby in the comfort of their own home after the birth until the mom is comfortably back on her feet.”

Breastfeeding consultation is another area of expertise that their practice offers.

Amelia and Genia are in the process of finding a permanent location for their new clinic. They are also currently conducting home visits in their catchment area (and beyond if needed) and are also offering pre-natal classes that run for six weeks. Amelia is thrilled at being able to offer her services in this community, which she now calls home. She demonstrated her passion for the work she does and ended our interview with these words: “Birth is one of the most important experiences in a woman and her family’s lives and the importance of her receiving thorough and respectful care at that time can have a lasting impact for everyone involved.”

Anyone interested in finding out more about the services offered at Village Midwifery Care can call 613-888-6623, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.villagemidwifery.ca