Bourgeios graduated from Ryerson University's Midwifery program in 2007.[1] She practiced for over 11 years before returning to teach as a sessional instructor in the midwifery program at Ryerson University from 2008. In 2019 she joined the program as a faculty member.[1] In 2002, she co-founded, along with Sara Wolfe and Ellen Blais, Seventh Generation Midwives Toronto.[3] She is currently the President of the Toronto Birth Centre.[4] She is an advocate for culturally safe care in pregnancy for Indigenous women.[5][3]
Advocacy
Bourgeois has critiqued the Canadian federal government evacuation policy[6][7] which requires pregnant Indigenous women from some communities to travel to cities in order to deliver their babies.[5] She has also highlighted the harm done by practitioners who appropriate best practices from Indigenous midwifery without proper attribution.[5]
Select bibliography
Daoud, N., Kristen O’Brien, Patricia O’Campo, Harney, S., Harney, E., Bebee, K., Bourgeios, Cheryllee, Smylie, J. (2019). "Postpartum depression prevalence and risk factors among indigenous, non-indigenous and immigrant women in Canada." Canadian Journal of Public Health, 110(4), 440–452.[8]
Dion Fletcher, Claire and Cheryllee Bourgeios, "Refusing Delinquency, Reclaiming Power: Indigenous Women and Childbirth." Natal Signs: cultural representations of pregnancy, birth and parenting. ed. Nadya Burton. Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press, 2015.[9]
Monchalin, R., Smylie, J., Bourgeois, C., & Firestone, M. (2019). “I would prefer to have my health care provided over a cup of tea any day”: recommendations by urban Métis women to improve access to health and social services in Toronto for the Métis community. AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples, 15:3, 217-225.[10]
Kitching, G.T., Firestone, M., Schei, B. et al. (2019). "Unmet health needs and discrimination by healthcare providers among an Indigenous population in Toronto, Canada," Canadian Journal of Public Health, 111, 40–49.[11]
Rotondi MA, O’Campo P, O’Brien K, et al., (2017) "Our Health Counts Toronto: using respondent-driven sampling to unmask census undercounts of an urban indigenous population in Toronto, Canada," BMJ Open, 7:12, e018936.[12]
Bourgeois, Cheryllee, Copee, Annabel and Hilary Edelstein, Paramedic PESP emergency skills : managing birth out-of-hospital, Toronto: Ontario Association of Midwives, 2017.[13]
^Darling, Elizabeth K.; Lawford, Karen Marie Olsen; Wilson, Kathi; Kryzanauskas, Michelle; Bourgeault, Ivy Lynn (March–April 2019). "Distance from Home Birth to Emergency Obstetric Services and Neonatal Outcomes: A Cohort Study". Journal of Midwifery & Women's Health. 64 (2): 170–178. doi:10.1111/jmwh.12896. PMID30325580. S2CID53502070.
^Lawford, Karen M.; Giles, Audrey R.; Bourgeault, Ivy L. (December 2018). "Canada's evacuation policy for pregnant First Nations women: Resignation, resilience, and resistance". Women and Birth. 31 (6): 479–488. doi:10.1016/j.wombi.2018.01.009. PMID29439924. S2CID25080071.
^Burton, Nadya (2015). Natal signs: cultural representations of pregnancy, birth and parenting. Brantford, Ontario: Demeter Press. pp. 153–171. ISBN978-1-926452-32-6. OCLC920015824.