Bridging the gap in Canada’s healthcare system; Introducing Crowning Gaia

BY JONELL PANTLITZ

The team at the Toronto Caribbean Newspaper would like to introduce you to Jaiah Howe a Young Afro indigenous Canadian woman doing exceptional work within the City of Toronto.

Jaiah is from Nova Scotia, one of the largest and oldest Afro indigenous communities. Many may know about Jaiah Howe through her business Crowing Gaia. Crowning Gaia provides black women with the care they deserve, and the support they need in whatever ways they need it in, all areas of life, but most importantly throughout the pregnancy, labour and postpartum period.

Jaiah has been a doula for the last fifteen years however her journey into birth work officially started this summer, with the commitment to create and hold a space for Afro-Indigenous girls, women and birthing people in her community.

As an Afro-Indigenous Canadian, Jaiah explained that she realizes that the healthcare system often leaves behind Afro-Indigenous Canadians in their time of need, and her goal is to bridge the gap.

According to Jaiah CEO and founder of Crowing Gia, “For me it’s about research. It’s about at least acknowledging that these problems are real and we’re not making it up. Black women are dying at disproportionate rates and, it’s not just because we’re black it’s because of racism in the medical system, and it’s Canada’s lack of urgency on doing these studies that are race based.”

She continued, “I’m not waiting for white politicians to start saying, Black Maternal Lives Matter. I am not waiting for white politicians or white doctors to start advocating on behalf of black working bodies, because if we wait for that, we’re going to continue to lose important people in our communities and within our society.”

Jaiah is currently a sociology major at York University, and she is awaiting the start of a new program called Assaulted Women and Children’s counsellor. She explained, “I’ll be able to continue to create and hold space for black, Indigenous and other people of colour across the diaspora to heal from the intersections of and beyond systemic, institutional, sexual, generational and karmic cycles and abuse.”

She expressed that she is drawn to this work because there are not many like her. She also expressed that she is acquainted with a woman who is currently only doing the second study in Canada that pertains to maternal statistics.

Jaiah told me that she truly wants to blend birth with the ancestral and spiritual nature of who we are. She mentioned, “I think it’s also a goal of mine to provide people with alternative methods for healing, that for a lot of people in our communities have been lost in herbalism, divinations, nature, shadow work, astrology, tarot etc.”

She revealed that she thinks it is important to have a working knowledge of herbalism. “I plan on being able to show up for my community. I’m currently working my way through a peri hydrotherapy doula certification. I want to be able to help my clients have the best birth, whatever that means for them. I want to be able to help reconnect my home community, Preston, Nova-Scotia (AKA Canada’s largest and oldest Indigenous black settlement) and to protect my people.”

Jaiah will be releasing a new book called “Jumping in Puddles in The Middle of a Tornado.” She explained, “The tornado was what I was releasing, the book is me jumping in the pile and saying like I’ve learned my lessons, I believe, and I see you. If you are in these situations, I want you to know that you are seen, and you are valid and your experience is real, and it matters, and your voice is real and it matters.”

For more information on Jaiah, check out https://www.crowninggaia.com/ or give her a call at (437) 345-7191. You can also follow her Instagram at crowninggaia.