Apart from selecting baby names and paint chips for the nursery, women in Canada have choices when it comes to where, how and who will deliver their little one. But with more babies being born, a maternal health-care crisis looms due to a shortage of delivering doctors and a slowly growing number of midwives.

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Sanna’s decision on a midwife-assisted pregnancy reflects the burgeoning interest of Canadian women who are considering the alternative birthing experience. While Sanna – as well as other women – expressed initial hesitancy in embracing the practice, others like her are pushing past the archaic perceptions of a practice that smoothly transitions women into motherhood while relieving pressure off delivering doctors and obstetricians. “More women are hearing about midwifery, are knowing that it’s an option,” says Kara Brockington, who received a bachelor of health sciences in midwifery degree in 2004. “I would say seven years ago [that] I wasn’t seeing that quite often. A woman would come to us in her second pregnancy and she would say, ‘I didn’t know I could have a midwife.’” Brockington is employed at Midwives of York Region in Newmarket, which has hospital privileges at South Lake Regional Health Centre. In February of this year, the clinic expanded into Vaughan with Family Care Midwives, which services women in Woodbridge, Thornhill, Richmond Hill, Concord, King City and Oak Ridges. The practice, which has hospital privileges at York Central Hospital, is open to helping women in other areas as well.

According to The Canadian Perinatal Surveillance System’s Canadian Maternity Experiences Survey (MES) 2006 – 2007, 71.1 per cent of women praised their labour and birth experience with a midwife as a positive experience. “It was always, ‘here are your options, this is your pregnancy, this is your birth.’ My midwives would check with me before proceeding with everything. I felt in control of my situation,” says Sanna.

Midwives are recognized health-care professionals that provide primary care to low-risk healthy women during pregnancy, labour and birth with a personal and attentive approach. Once a family physician confirms a pregnancy, one can contact a midwifery practice that services her area to schedule prenatal appointments at its clinic, just as you would do with a doctor. No referral from a general practitioner is needed. Conducting care in groups of two, midwives are trained in spontaneous vaginal deliveries. They stay by your side for the duration of your delivery – sometimes up to 24 hours. A midwife’s post-partum care brings many benefits to a tired mom, with home visits up to six weeks after delivery. “I would see them every couple weeks and the last four weeks every week, and they were with me the whole delivery,” recalls Sanna. “It’s nice, too, because instead of getting nurses that are changing shifts, I had my two best friends there, my midwives, that I had known for nine months. I had my friends there that were going to help me through this and they knew what they were doing.”

Every two years, midwives must re-certify in CPR, neo-natal resuscitation, post-partum hemorrhaging, breached deliveries, and other emergency skills. If a complication or emergency caesarian-section is needed, transfer of care to a delivering physician or OB/GYN is immediately arranged. Registered midwives also provide pregnant women with the same tests that doctors order, like genetic screening and ultrasounds. They can prescribe various medications, and some are now able to administer an epidural if you so choose to have it. Midwives are considered colleagues by medical doctors, and have hospital privileges, allowing an expectant woman to decide between an at-home or hospital birth. However, those unfamiliar with the practice may circulate uninformed views of midwifery, which include untrained labour coaches using aromatic oils during at-home births. “The demand for midwifery has spread through word-of-mouth … but there are myths out there,” says Lisa Weston, a midwife and president-elect of the Association of Ontario Midwives. “A lot of people think you have to pay for midwifery care. Clients say, ‘when I tell people the kind of care I got and that you came and did home visits and that someone was available for me all the time by pager, they asked me how much I had to pay for it. They were amazed when I said they didn’t.’” In 1994, Ontario became the first province in Canada to regulate and support midwifery. The Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care fully funds midwifery services.

According to a Statistics Canada report, there were 377,886 live births across the nation in 2008. A disparity between the rising number of births and available human resources in Canada is placing a strain on our maternal care system, with demands to quality care outweighing supply. The Canadian Institute for Health Information says that in 2009, there were 1,767 OB/GYNs in Canada, with 704 practising in Ontario. The majority of expectant mothers in this nation receive prenatal care from an obstetrician, gynecologist or family physician. A 2008 report by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) says that overburdened obstetricians (who prefer to practice in populated urban cities) deliver about 80 per cent of babies in this country, making the need for obstetrical care urgent in a climate where women become pregnant later on in life and/or have pre-existing conditions.

Low-risk, healthy women can be placed under the primary care of midwives, who deliver about three to four per cent, or about 45 babies each per year. There are close to 1,000 registered midwives across Canada, of which 528 reside in Ontario, says a representative from the Canadian Association of Midwives. This low number, coupled with the hands-on approach of a midwife, results in long waiting lists at midwifery clinics. Appointments with a midwife are often 45 minutes long, filling the silent gap left with brief appointments by beleaguered OB/GYNs. Solving the shortage of maternal care in Canada is critical.

A joined force of obstetrician-gynecologists, family physicians, registered nurses and midwives is required to advance women’s health, advises Dr. André Lalonde, executive vice president of the SOGC. “The problem we are having with health care right now is that everybody is in kind of their own area in their little box; everybody has their own separate practice. What needs to improve in Canada is to break down these barriers. People should be working in groups; you should be able to go to a prenatal office where you have midwives and doctors working in the same office.” The efforts of the SOGC include a 2003 policy statement entitled the “National Birthing Strategy and the Multidisciplinary Collaborative Primary Maternity Care Project” in 2006, which urges a collaborative approach between maternal health-care professionals. Goals to increase the availability and quality of maternity services for all Canadian women include reducing key barriers so that a collaborative approach can be fulfilled.

If you’re one of hundreds of thousands of women pregnant in Canada each year, you’ll know that the excitement of having a baby goes hand-in-hand with providing quality care for baby and you. “A pregnant woman has a lot of choices in Canada,” says Dr. Lalonde. “She can contact a family physician, she can contact a midwife, she can contact an obstetrician. I think the three professions in Canada provide essential services for women – they are [all] very competent.”

www.midwivesofyorkregion.com
www.sogc.org

Every time I’m asked where I’m from I hesitate. I pause because I want to avoid the know-it-all smirk. I equivocate because I don’t want to hear the toxic and discriminative comments that fall from ignorant lips. That’s not fair to me or any other resident of Vaughan who lives life according to the law.

I’m not naive, but Vaughan is primarily a city full of heart, ­not villains. So why do cantankerous mediums continue to pollute our clean air with what appears to be anti-Italianism and acrimonious sound bites?

What alarms me the most is that Italians continue to be easy targets because they prefer not to speak out on issues that concern them. And many people take advantage of that.

Yellow journalism was at its best with a recent feature on Vaughan entitled “The Land of the Rich and Infamous,” written by Chris Nuttall-Smith, former food editor and current freelancer for Toronto Life. Residents of Vaughan found this story – which lambastes 905 developers, Mayor Linda Jackson, Vaughan council and the Italian community – plainly distasteful.

I asked Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian Fantino how he feels when his culture or the community he lives in is criticized in the media.

Julian Fantino, Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner

“Most of the critics have an agenda of their own, and very often there are issues that are not properly portrayed or reported,” responds Commissioner Fantino. I think it’s disconcerting … very often the facts are not really known. A lot of it is just sensationalism. The screaming headlines … all of that I think is intended to tear down and disenfranchise not only the community, but the people, unfairly. There’s far too much of that I think, going on in Vaughan,” adds Fantino, who has lived in this community since 1981.

With Vaughan’s 2010 municipal election approaching, the Toronto Life feature raked Mayor Linda Jackson and Vaughan council over the coals. Any charges against Mayor Jackson have not yet been proven in a court of law.

Apart from portraying council members as the “enemies” of the mayor, Nuttall-Smith colours his introduction with a harsh physical description. “She’s 50 years old, with dyed blondish hair and skin that’s often the colour of inexpensive bronzer … It’s fair to say that she carries around a few extra pounds.” This passage raises the question as to whether or not a person’s appearance affects his or her ability to govern a city.

In 2000, years before Toronto Mayor David Miller began an exercise regime to shed his extra weight, he was lauded with an A+ and named best councillor by Toronto Life magazine. For Mayor Jackson, presenting her best appearance comes second to executing her duties as mayor, as she displayed during the endless hours she spent helping citizens in the aftermath of the Vaughan tornado. Mayor Jackson recalls: “The skies opened up, and I said, ‘Don’t give me an umbrella! These people’s homes are destroyed, and all I would be worried about would be an umbrella?”

I have resided in this city for a little more than 20 years, during which time my experiences with some of the
non-Vaughan populace have left me speechless. The media have taken every opportunity to splash its headlines about Vaughan with blood. As a result, the excellence of our city has been spoiled by unhealthy, unbalanced reporting, bordering an obsession with politics, lifestyle and Italian developers. Nuttall-Smith’s story begins with: “Everything about Vaughan – its executive estates, its hectares of malls, its politicians’ aspirations – is big and brash … Its expansion has been orchestrated by politically connected developers who know what they want.”

Toronto Life is published by St. Joseph Communications, which was founded in 1956 by Gaetano Gagliano, who is Italian. As Canada’s largest privately owned communications company, St. Joseph’s corporate communications office is located in the core of the Canadian marketplace – Vaughan.

I wanted to ask St. Joseph’s CEO Tony Gagliano how he felt about the way his heritage and the community he works in were criticized by the very brand he runs. After I made several attempts to arrange an interview with him, his executive assistant sent me this message in an e-mail: “As previously mentioned, I am unable to schedule any time for a call due to Tony’s [Gagliano] schedule for the next few weeks. There is no one else that I can recommend to speak on his behalf. We thank you again for this opportunity. Warm regards, Rose Giorgio.”

I tried to reach the five building magnates described in the Toronto Life story under the subheading, “Developer Kings: The builders of Vaughan’s suburbs are also some of the city’s richest residents.” But John DeGasperis (TACC Construction), Vic De Zen (Royal Group Technologies), Carlo Baldassarra (Greenpark Homes) and Rudy Bratty (Remington Group) opted not to comment. Would anyone who was criticized constantly be comfortable speaking to the media?

The only developer who offered his thoughts was Alfredo (Fred) DeGasperis, founder of the nation’s largest construction company, ConDrain.

While I don’t want to discredit the hard work that Nuttall-Smith did on his feature, he said DeGasperis was a resident of Vaughan, but he is not; rather, he lives in the city of Toronto. “I was upset when I heard about [the story]. We’re very proud of what we’ve done for many, many years. We still keep doing it. We build buildings. I know they [the media] make the problem bigger. They always try to throw dirt on a project,” says DeGapseris. He won a lawsuit against The Globe and Mail in 2000, for which the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered the newspaper and a journalist to pay him $780,000, which he then donated to charity.

Under the headshots of most of the developers, their estimated worth is listed. If money talks, why not explain where some of the cash goes? Every year, all these men, including Fred DeGasperis (“worth $1.4 billion”), donate millions to charities and hospitals.

In just one example, Fred DeGasperis and family donated a staggering $7 million to Toronto General Hospital in 2004 to enhance patient care at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre.

“We believe we should take care of the sick people. We believe that when you work so hard and you make decent money you should give back to charity. We’re very proud of what we’ve done for hospitals,” says DeGasperis, who, like the other developers, has extended his generosity to Toronto institutions like the Hospital for Sick Children, Mount Sinai, Sunnybrook and Princess Margaret hospitals.

“Our very generous donor community, which includes wonderful supporters from the city of Vaughan, allows us to raise funds to deliver breakthrough research, exemplary teaching and compassionate care at Princess Margaret Hospital, one of the top five cancer research centres in the world,” says Paul Alofs, president and CEO of The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation.

Matthew Teitelbaum

TACC Construction recently helped fund the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) services at the Markham Stoufville Hospital with a $1 million gift.

Many Italian developers have also supported the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) with $500,000 contributions towards the Galleria Italia, a sculptural promenade across the front of the AGO. “I’m thrilled because I’ve never been with a group of donors who seemed more excited and pleased with the association and with their ability to make a difference,” says Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO’s Michael and Sonja Koerner director and CEO.

Cities in Canada and across the world are troubled by scandals, and whether it’s true or not, a dose of equilibrium and a dash of class go a long way in fair reportage.

“We don’t need any more bad publicity about Vaughan,” says Remo Ferri. “I think there’s a great community up here. It’s a great place, and some of us have worked very hard to build what we have. We’re not crooks,” adds the founder of The Remo Ferri Group of Automobiles. Earlier this year, Ferri, who supports a number of charities, opened North America’s largest Ferrari Maserati dealership in Vaughan.

The city of Vaughan is home to multiple ethnicities, living and learning together in one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities.

The issue of Italian culture begins when Nuttall-Smith writes, “The city has more than 250,000 residents today, and the largest concentration of Italian immigrants in Canada. More than 40 per cent of the population claims Italian heritage. Six out of eight of the city’s councillors are Italian; they often campaign in Italian and bow to local Italian-language media.”

Sandra Yeung Racco, Vaughan Councillor.

In instances like this, I’m jaded from having to explain, very slowly, that no, not every Vaughan resident is Italian. “We have a very multicultural and diverse group of residents and businesses,” says Vaughan Councillor Sandra Yeung Racco. I think that makes us very rare. We have a good balance of multiple cultures within our community.”

A surprise to most, the city of Vaughan is just 38 per cent Italian. The rest of the community includes Jewish, Indian, Russian, Vietnamese, French and Romanian cultures, among others. “It is a very interesting and special experience for emigrants that first come to live in Vaughan and are new to the country. For me, Vaughan has everything you need,” says Mimoza Gila, an Albanian who lives in Woodbridge.

I must dispel yet another illusion: that of the housing climate of Vaughan. Guess what! We don’t all live like starlets in Hollywood-style “executive estates” with Roman pillars and multiple garages. “A number of condominium apartments and multiple row houses have been built [in Vaughan] over the past few years,” states the city of Vaughan’s website.

Just take a drive through Vaughan’s major communities – Concord, Kleinburg, Maple, Thornhill, Woodbridge – and you will find families living under the roof of a condominium, duplex or ­– gasp! – renting. Also, Vaughan is not “paved over,” with more than 1,000 hectares of vacant land.

For those who do enjoy the niceties of an upscale life, it all wasn’t handed down to them on a silver platter.

Vaughan isn’t where ”old money” lives and breathes. That kind of currency dwells in Toronto’s lavish Rosedale neighbourhood, where our nation’s wealthiest hold tea parties and clink their crystal in a lifestyle set in the most posh and expensive neighbourhood in Canada.

Maurizio Bevilacqua

Vaughan is a city where immigrants settled many years ago, and instead of being stagnant, grew and expanded. Adding 10,000 new residents each year, Vaughan continues to be one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities. By 2031, it is expected to be home to 420,000 people. How could a city described as a “political mess” with “politically connected developers” continue to attract new residents?

“Vaughan is a city that can in fact become world-class,” explains Maurizio Bevilacqua, a member of Parliament who represents Vaughan. “People [in Vaughan] are entrepreneurial and enlightened in the sense that while they excel at creating economic growth, they also understand their social responsibility. We are willing to share with one another … our focus is to improve the quality of life and standard of living for all Vaughan residents.”

The people of Vaughan were not spoon-fed a great life. They have felt the effects of segregation, communism, fascism and Nazism; they have endured poverty and oppression. But they rose out of hardship and misery; they struggled and sweated and strained to get to where they are today so their children could enjoy a lifestyle they didn’t have. “A lot of people came to this country in the ’40s and ’50s with only the shirt on their back, wanting to make a better life for themselves,” says Mayor Jackson. “They sacrificed … leaving wives and children in other countries to come to this country to make a better life, and they worked non-stop.”

As the innocent and hardworking residents of Vaughan continue to face an unfair reputation, the city’s accomplishments have taken a back seat. “The perception being created is an unfortunate one, but it is one that certainly can be improved by presenting the true nature of Vaughan and the community – its reality, not its mythology,” says MP Bevilacqua.

It’s time to take a stand, so that the next time you venture out of Vaughan, you won’t feel ashamed to say where you came from.

Headquartered in Ontario’s industrial community of Concord, Tokmakjian Group was conceived from childhood dreams and born via skilled experience. During a time when deals were sealed with a handshake, Cy set out solo at 29, unbeknown to what the future had in store for him. “I remember shaking hands with Tony DeGasperis, when we were both small businessmen beginning our journeys,” Cy, 69, reflects.

Today he is one of Canada’s most successful transportation entrepreneurs with a hands-on approach, owning several companies under the Tokmakjian umbrella that service the bus, truck and industrial equipment industries across domestic and international markets.

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Based in Vaughan, Tokmakjian Group is known for servicing recognized fleets such as GO Transit, Mississauga Transit and other municipal transportation operations. The group’s first company, S.N. Diesel Service, is a renowned leader in repairing, rebuilding and refurbishing diesel equipment, while Can-Ar Coach Service, another company of Tokmakjian Group, is a trusted front-runner in the group travel market that operates 40 luxury tour coaches.

A product of the proverbial like-father-like-son formula, Cy’s dad was the owner of a large diesel shop back home in the Middle East. It was through the amalgamation of mentorship and experience that Cy gained the credence to come to Canada and take a chance at establishing his own project. “For several months, it was just me,” says Cy.

In the nature of most rags-to-riches tales, Cy’s success didn’t come from the right turn of the wheel but after trading in his company car for a sales van, negotiating with banks to grant him a loan and travelling from customer to customer. He was finally able to rent a small shop on Highway 7 in Vaughan. “I thought I’d get to a point where I was comfortable with 25 workers or something and stay,” says Cy of his booming business, which has expanded overseas thanks to its guarantee of customer satisfaction. “When you build a company from zero, you care about it,” says the modest owner, whose one-man-show now employees over 1,000 recruits across the world. As he conjures up poignant memories of his history, Cy becomes evocative as he realizes just how dependent his employees are on the company he began in 1971.

While the success of this transportation magnate can be attributed to several factors, Cy pays homage to the relationship he has with his staff. “When people are happy, they accomplish a lot. If you go
down to my facilities you will see how everybody cares about the company,” he says.

A satisfied staff is a much more bona fide statement to swallow when you eliminate the widespread effects of a spiralling economy. “S.N. Diesel was the first company and it went through three recessions. I never had to lay off anyone,” reveals Cy. “Sometimes, when it gets slow in here, I get some people to work for me at another division for one or two months until things shape up.” Cy also adds that he’s known some of his staff members for more than 20 years. “We have a very small turnover here,” he says proudly.

When Cy isn’t travelling overseas to check up on his international feats, he is spending quality time with his other triumphs. “My biggest accomplishment in life is of course, my kids and my family,” says the entrepreneur. His son, Raffi, followed in his footsteps at the tender age of 14. “I put him downstairs to clean and sweep the floor. He used to cut his fingers and my wife [Helen] would say: ‘Oh my, what are you doing with our kid,’” laughs Cy.

After adding a business education to his resumé, Raffi, 32, traded in his broom for his current role as the company’s executive vice president, but not after passing a few preliminary tests from his father. “He sent me to Korea at what I would say was the mid-stage of my career, at a time where that was kind of a risky thing for him to do. And he took on the challenge to send me over there and deal with a very important situation. He gave me the confidence to be able to do that,” says Raffi.

With Cy’s philosophy on life reflected in the way he treats his staff – he gives $1,000 to each employee who trades in his or her car for a hybrid – his company mirrors his commitment to compassion and the future. “You have to be happy. You have to have a good conscience. You have to face people and not look down always. And that’s life. You have to accomplish life by accomplishing something.”

1969: Cy Tokmakjian marries Helen. In the years to come they have three children: Sylvia, Ani and Raffi

1970: S.N. Diesel Service is founded. Over the last 40 years it has grown into one of the largest diesel service operations in Canada.

1971: Cy Tokmakjian forms Tokmakjian Group, which contains operating companies that service the bus, truck and industrial equipment industries.

1983: Cy Tokmakjian becomes the owner and president of Can-Ar Coach Service, a charter specialist which operates 40 luxury tour coaches.

1989: Tokmakjian Group goes international. A total of nine divisions across the world fall under the Tokmakjian Group canopy.

2006: Raffi Tokmakjian becomes executive vice president of Tokmakjian Group.

2009: Cy and Helen Tokmakjian celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Cy Tokmakjian remains one of Canada’s largest transportation magnates.

www.tokmakjian.com