What is The GEM Hub?

The GEM Hub is a Canada-wide community brought together to co-create knowledge mobilization activities to address pregnancy related near miss-events and death in Canada. Together, we strive for a culture of equitable, inclusive, and safe pregnancy and post-pregnancy care for all women and gender-diverse people across the country.

Though the Hub Team is based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, the nationwide membership is composed of people who care deeply about pregnancy and post-pregnancy care across provinces and territories. Whether it is because of personal and/or professional experience, members join to contribute to this overarching goal.

The Start of Our Hub

Our Hub was selected to join the Pan-Canadian Women's Health Coalition (PWHC), a national Women's Health Research Initiative funded by the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) and Women and Gender Equality Canada (WAGE). As one of ten Hubs in Canada, we work towards the following goals:

Maximizing the impact and visibility of women and gender diverse people’s health research and practice.
Mobilizing and growing new and existing knowledge and models of practice.
Advancing more equitable, evidence-based, gender-sensitive, culturally safe, holistic healthcare and access to care for diverse groups of women and gender diverse people.

We are excited to be a part of this important initiative and look forward to contributing to the broader conversation on improving healthcare for all.

To learn more about the PWHC and the critical work being led by other Hubs read here.

Why the Name "GEM"?

Our name is inspired by the word "gemstone", with "GEM" standing for KnowledGE Mobilization.

Gemstones symbolize the beauty, strength, and diversity formed through powerful and creative processes. We believe these qualities reflect the unique nature of pregnancy, encompassing a wide range of experiences, including but not limited to near-miss events.

The gem symbol shifts the focus from fear to empowerment, prioritizing what people wish for and want from their pregnancy and post-pregnancy care.

Our Vision

All women and gender-diverse people in Canada have equitable, inclusive, and safe pregnancy and post-pregnancy care.

Our Mission

To improve the health and wellness of women and gender-diverse people in Canada by hosting an interdisciplinary and intersectoral knowledge mobilization Hub to address pregnancy-related near-miss events and deaths.

Our Purpose

We are co-creating knowledge mobilization activities to address pregnancy-related near-miss events and deaths. Our aim is to improve the health and wellness of women and gender-diverse people in Canada. The GEM Hub pursues this goal through a Research Justice Framework that integrates experiential, cultural, and spiritual knowledge, alongside mainstream or academic knowledge. This work is supported by the Hub’s multisectoral membership and collaborative activities.

Our Values

This image is a visual representation of The GEM Hub members' hopes and dreams for the Hub.

Image description: Outline of a young plant, and within it words that say: connection, representativeness, new paradigms for health, collaborating, evidence, represent diversity, sharing, pregnancy success, inclusive, community, understanding, equity, empowerment, network, collaboration, partnership, everyone, EDI, family, scalable, training, collective, maternal health equity, interdisciplinary, reduce mortality, mother as important, postpartum follow up, non-biased care, sustainable, integrated care, women self-care, women centered care, outcome focused, education, voices, community, process, local to global, collaborative, give women voice, communication, prevent maternal deaths, empowerment, inclusive, birth plan 2b considered. This image represents the hopes and dreams of the Hub members.