I completed my Bachelor of Midwifery Degree at Mount Royal University in Calgary. I was accepted into the midwifery program immediately after completing my high school education. I am originally from Surrey, BC where I grew up prior to moving to Alberta for post secondary school. I am of Indo-Canadian descent and am fluent in Punjabi and English. 

As a child, I always knew that I wanted to work in the field of medicine and had a specific interest in women’s health. When I was in grade 11, I was given the opportunity to go to Ottawa for a week and participate in a program called “Encounters with Canada” filled with workshops focussed on medicine and health. It was there that the seed of midwifery was planted in my mind. I was drawn to a workshop titled “baby catching” run by the local midwives, and from that moment moving forward I knew that midwifery was the path for me. 

I am grateful to all of the families who have welcomed me into being a part of their beautiful and unique birthing experiences. Every birth has taught me invaluable life lessons of strength, empowerment, resilience, love, and unity. I am someone who is passionate about advocating for my clients to have their voices heard. I want to ensure that every individual’s birth experience is centered around their own values and decisions. 

I hope to someday provide midwifery services to marginalized populations of women in underprivileged communities across the globe. I love to travel and have had Midwifery placements in Calgary, Saskatoon, Fort Qu’Appelle, Medicine Hat, and Edmonton. 

At Passages, I am on a team with Samantha Smith-Bird. We look forward to working with you through this time of transition and new beginnings!

Heather Martin currently works out of our Stony Plain office and our South Edmonton office.

Heather hails from Regina, Saskatchewan where her passion for maternity care was ignited after visiting a friend with her new baby.  She began her nursing education in 1999, qualifying for the Accelerated Nursing Education Program of Saskatchewan. She graduated in 2002 and began working in a labour and delivery unit.  She also spent one year working full time in a tertiary level NICU.

It was Heather’s zest for learning, and a sense that she needed a change, that brought her to Edmonton to pursue her Masters in Nursing at the University of Alberta. Heather had developed a passion for global maternal health and had the unique opportunity to conduct her thesis research in Ghana, Africa, studying community support for childbearing women. Through her studies, Heather learned more about midwifery and a new fire was lit.

In 2011, Heather was accepted to Laurentian University’s Midwifery Education Program. She benefited enormously from the wonderful women in South Western Ontario who allowed her to be involved in their care and, of course, from the midwives whose experience and confidence in birth allowed her to learn, grow, and truly become a midwife.

Heather completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences Degree in Midwifery, Cum Laude, in the spring of 2013 and returned to Edmonton to begin her new career at JoySring Midwifery. Working alongside childbearing women and their families through JoySpring was an absolute pleasure.  

After the passing of Noreen Walker in the spring of 2017, Heather was compelled to help Passages Midwifery continue to provide care to the thousands of families who Noreen had dedicated her life to. It is an honour for Heather to be walking in the footsteps laid by such an inspiring and strong woman.  

When not busy catching babies, Heather has contributed to provincial midwifery as Vice President of the Alberta Association of Midwives, midwife-member of the MoreOB Core Team at Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton, and data collection for a study led by Dr. Beverly O’Brien on water immersion in labour and birth. Once in a while spare time and adventure find a happy mix, providing Heather with important opportunities to present at such events as the International Confederation of Midwives Conference in Prague, Czechoslovakia (June 2014), the CAPWHN Conference in Regina (2014), and the POGO Conference in Regina (2016). Heather participates as a member of the Provincial Midwifery Executive Committee for Alberta Health Services and in September 2016, she assumed the role of Clinical Midwifery Director for the Edmonton, Central, and North Zone.

Heather enjoys traveling, her two rambunctious kitties, relaxing with family and friends, preparing great meals, and crocheting beautiful newborn hats for the sweet little babies she helps to welcome into the world.

Melissa works out of both our Stony Plain and our South Edmonton office.

Melissa was born and raised in Amiskwaciwâskahikan ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (translation: beaver mountain house; the Cree term for Edmonton). She began her journey into healthcare by initially attending Grant Macewan University, then transferring to Lakehead’s Bachelor of Science in Nursing (compressed program) in Thunder Bay, Ontario. It was there, among the Anishnawbe and the gorgeous landscape, that she found a renewed sense of cultural identity and pride.

In 2012, she began working as a labour and delivery nurse at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women. While the work itself was rewarding, challenging, and beautiful, Melissa felt restricted and stagnate in her role as an RN. In 2015, she began studying for a Master’s degree in Public Health, specializing in global health, at the University of Alberta. It was during that time she was able to marry her passions for birth work and the decolonization movement, which led her to form a non-profit research business/working group for survivors of colonial violence, and put her on the path to midwifery.

Her interest in midwifery was always there, but the courage to pursue it as a career did not come until a few pivotal moments as both a nurse and graduate student, when she experienced racism while staring down the evidence of historical injustice. After a short-lived career in research at the U of A, Melissa took a chance and applied to midwifery school. She was accepted into Laurentian University’s accelerated Bachelor of Health Sciences in Midwifery! Three cities, two cross-country moves, and one pandemic later, she accepted a position with Passages Midwifery, and is honoured to be serving the community in her role as New Registrant Midwife.

In her off-call time, Melissa is mother to Willow and Iris, wife to Cory, an amateur seamstress, film nut, fangirl, bookworm, lover of mountains and music festivals.