There are currently nine midwives actively working at Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives. We have all met the educational and training requirements to become a Registered Midwife (RM) in Ontario, and we renew our registration with the College of Midwives of Ontario, our regulatory body, on an annual basis. We adhere to all standards and requirements set by this governing body. Many of us are also active members of our professional association, the Association of Ontario Midwives. We maintain up-to-date certification in Fetal Health Surveillance, Neonatal Resuscitation, Emergency Skills for Obstetrics, and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), and regularly attend continuing education workshops, hospital rounds, and peer review. Individual biographies are found below:
My name is Cara Begg-Reid, RM. I’ve worked as a Registered Midwife at Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives since 2013. Over the years, I’ve led focused specialised care for clients facing homelessness, mental health and addictions, and gender based violence. I am involved in queer advocacy groups and enjoy welcoming every client regardless of orientation or gender identity.
Donna Carter, RM was born and raised in a very remote village in Guyana, South America. Growing up in a rural community where health care was difficult to access, from a young age she always knew that she wanted to be a part of making a difference in the lives of the people in the community. That is why she decided to study midwifery and graduated in 2006.
After graduating, Donna returned to her village where she enjoyed working with women and babies and their families for over six years. She then moved to the city with her two children to ensure that they get a better education. She also had the opportunity to work as a midwife in a city hospital for four years before moving to Canada in 2016. She graduated from the IMMP at Ryerson to become a Registered Midwife in Ontario since she is passionate to continue working with and supporting women and their families through this special journey.
Laura Keere, RM received her Honours BSc in Midwifery from McMaster University following her Infection Control Practitioner Designation and Honours Bachelor of Kinesiology. Her passion for women’s health, obstetrics, and pediatrics, coupled with her belief that childbirth is a natural, healthy process lead her to pursue a career in midwifery. Following graduation she began her midwifery career in the Halton Region and was thrilled to return home to Durham Region where she currently resides with her family. The exuberant feeling and honour of witnessing families grow is indescribable. She looks forward to sharing this incredible journey with you.
Katrin Hassanzadeh, RM was born and raised in Iran’s Azerbaijan. English is her third language. She speaks Azerbaijani/Turkish, Farsi and English. She became interested in midwifery during her high school years because she came to realize that pregnancy is such a wonderful process. She decided she would be a midwife in order to learn everything about it in order to give pregnant women the timely and good care that is so important. Katrin thinks the moment of birth is both joyous and beautiful and the midwife is privileged to share this unique and intimate experience with the parents. She was so excited when she heard that she was accepted into the university because she had considered midwifery to be her dream job. After she finished her bachelor’s degree in midwifery in Iran, she started to practice midwifery. She now has more than eight years’ experience and has delivered many babies. She has also worked in remote and under-serviced areas and she is very proud to have had this opportunity. Katrin came to Canada with her husband and was accepted into the International Midwifery Pre-Registration Programme at Ryerson University. She feels that midwifery in Canada is a fantastic model of care which she enjoys very much.
Claudette Leduc, RM is a registered midwife, a midwifery consumer, a supporter of women’s health and a Francophone woman. She is a practice partner and one of the founding members of Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives. She graduated from the Ryerson Midwifery Education Programme in 2004. She had an 11 year relationship with the Rouge Valley Health System as a registered nurse and has 25 years of experience as a health care provider in the hospital and community sectors. Claudette is an active member of the Francophone community in the greater Toronto area. Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives is strongly committed to offering French Language care to all clients who want it. Claudette also enjoys precepting students and mentoring new midwives.
Carolynn Prior, RM was born and raised in Scarborough. She has also lived in Toronto and Kingston. Carolynn attended York University in the Women’s Studies Programme before joining the Midwifery Education Programme in 1997. She is passionate about midwifery, breastfeeding, home birth and informed choice, and chose midwives for the birth of her three children.
Carolynn has also been involved with union Local start-up, co-operative housing, crisis counselling, breastfeeding advocacy, LGBTTQ peer youth counselling, Food Share and food advocacy, and childbirth education. Her interests include camping, running, crafting, family travelling, and cooking food from around the world.
Carolynn graduated from the Ryerson Midwifery Education Programme in 2003 on the Dean’s List, and completed her New Registrant Year with Community Midwives of Kingston. She is a partner in Sages-Femmes Rouge Valley Midwives.
Ozra Pashmi, RM stood beside her grandmother and watched over her shoulder as she was catching babies (as a traditional midwife). She started her midwifery education in 1989, and graduated with a BS in midwifery from Ahwaz University in Iran in 1993. Soon after, she opened a clinic in a rural area where she served military forces’ families, and villagers with minimal medical access. Moving to the city as her son was growing, she chose to work in hospital as a nurse-midwife, in a family planning clinic, and in the immunization department. She then had the pleasure of travelling to Dubai and got a sense of midwifery practice there for a short time.
Ozra immigrated to Canada in 2002, and after arrival in this country, she attended the International Midwifery Pre-Registration Programme at Ryerson and was certified in Ontario to practice as a registered midwife. She has been practicing since that time and she hopes if willing for many years to come. She is proud of providing loving care for parents and babies, providing service in English, Farsi (Persian) and Azabiojani (Turkish).
Natasha (Tasha) Singh, RM was born and raised in Kitchener Waterloo. Since she was young, she always knew that she wanted to deliver babies someday. Tasha first went to the University of Waterloo and graduated in 2007 with a bachelors of science in Biomedical sciences. She graduated from the Midwifery Education Program at McMaster University in 2012. Tasha also had the opportunity to do a placement in Tanzania, Africa while in the midwifery program. This placement inspired Tasha to focus on providing care to those that are vulnerable. Tasha enjoys spending time with her young daughter and working on art projects.