Our mission is…
To promote the health of, and improve outcomes for birthing families who are Black, Indigenous, People of Colour (BIPOC), including those who identify as Two Spirit, queer and/or Trans. We do this through the provision of free direct perinatal care (doulas, lactation consultants, pelvic floor physiotherapists, registered massage therapists, traditional healing practitioners etc.) services. Through our work, we facilitate a safe space for all racialized families, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or family structure to fully engage in holistic and accessible perinatal care.
Our vision is to…
Deliver direct provision of perinatal care to BIPOC families
Provide holistic education and training
Perinatal education classes for birthing families and their supports
Anti-oppression training and workshops for perinatal professionals, hospitals and educational institutions
Establish a pre and postnatal care centre, where birthing people can rest, heal and be cared for before and after their birth
Partner with similar Indigenous-led perinatal care organisations that share a common mission, to:
Reclaim teachings and legitimize traditional knowledge (through exchange and dissemination of knowledge)
Ensure that care for Indigenous families remains in the community rather than referred out
Ensure that our Board of directors is composed of 100% BIPOC-identified birth workers, 75% of whom are Black-identified
Our guiding values are…
Everyone has a right to care
Support for the movement for Black lives
Gender inclusivity
Provide care for the members of our Collective through an employee model of care in order to promote the health, wellbeing and financial stability of BIPOC perinatal care providers
Respect Indigenous worldviews
Love as a tool of counter capitalism and oppression
Accountability to one another using an abolitionist framework to address harm
Respect children as their own autonomous person
Respect and value different family structures
Support keeping families together
Sex-positive and pro sex work
Elimination of gender-based violence
Use harm-reduction strategies, and approach using trauma-informed and conscious care
No one is illegal
The right to not have a child and to have a child (pro-choice): all people have the right to self-determination and to make judgment-free decisions about their bodies and take control over their reproductive destinies.
Ethical source of funding: we do not accept money from companies that are not socially responsible such as formula, pharmaceuticals, oil, tobacco, and anti-choice organizations
Specifically...
Infants and Children
Ocama Collective believes in and supports the rights of ALL children and the autonomy of all children:
Children have the right to protection from exploitation, abuse and harm
Children have the right to be raised by their parent(s) if possible; and the right to care if they cannot live with their parent(s)
Children have the right to be supported in practicing their own culture, languages and spiritual beliefs and in accessing learning, education, and information.
Children who are at risk of harm and or involved with government or systemic child protection supports have the right to parental support(s) that will benefit them, including community support, spiritual support, and child centred support.
Ocama Collective will not engage with child protective services of any kind without a caregivers knowledge.
Keeping Families Together
Ocama Collective believes in and supports the principle that keeping families together is a good thing:
Ocama Collective believes that the cultural identity of Indigenous children, Black children and children from all racialized communities should be protected
We believe that childrens’ ties to family, extended family and chosen family should be kept, protected and maintained
We believe that family structures, including who is in that family, should be defined and determined by the members of that family
We believe that conditions of risk for children should be perpetually re-examined in the context of over representation of Indigneous and Black children in the child protection system
Reducing Harm and Supporting Health
Ocama Collective supports a Harm Reduction approach in all of its work:
Ocama supports the reduction of harm and adverse health outcomes in substance use
Ocama believes that harm reduction is also a social justice movement built on the belief in and respect for people who use drugs.
We believe in addressing the conditions of use along with the use itself.
We recognize the real and tragic harms that can be associated with drug/substance use.
We believe that people are the experts on their own lives, can make autonomous decisions, and that harm reduction works because it was created by people who use drugs.
We support harm reduction in pregnancy, postpartum and throughout the life span.
We believe that the conditions of poverty, racism, isolation, trauma, anti-sex work and other social inequalities impact individual and community vulnerabilities and ability to deal with drug-related harm(s).
Donations
We will not allow organizations who profit off of harming IBPOC people and our environment to contribute to Ocama as a means of offsetting or distracting from their harmful behaviors. Therefore, Ocama does not accept financial or in-kind donations from such organizations.
We will not mount or erect any plaques, statues or permanent fixtures in Ocama owned and operated spaces in recognition of any corporate donor.