Cheko Gǫįtì (gift of the child): discerning maternal services, policies and influences during tumultuous times in the Northwest Territories, Canada (2018 to 2024)

Maternal services and policies are initiated, envisioned and established under a colonial premise. Cheko Gǫįtì (gift of the child) is an effort to analyze and document how maternal care programs and policies affect maternal child services in 4 communities of the Northwest Territories (NT). Two frameworks were adapted, 2-eyed seeing and analyzing public policies. These frameworks guided the research process (community engagement, data collection and analysis and knowledge mobilization). The findings are grouped under the policy dimensions of effectiveness, unintended effects, equity, cost, feasibility and acceptability. What we learned informed our recommendations towards decolonizing the predominant westernized system.