[ windspeaker confidential ] Carol Couchie

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Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?

Carol Couchie: I guess loyalty.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

C.C.: I guess stupidity. Stupidity and laziness. I'm a mother.

W: When are you at your happiest?

C.C.: There's so many things that make me happy. Gardening. And when I've been at a really nice birth, like after I've delivered a baby and everything's gone well. The parents are happy.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?

C.C.: Cranky, I guess.

W: What is the most difficult thing you've ever had to do?

C.C.: I guess delivering bad news. Because I do that.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?

C.C.: My children. W: What one goal remains out of reach?

C.C.: For me, nothing. I'm sorry; that just sounds so arrogant. I just don't believe that there's anything I can't do that I want to do.

W: What one person do you most admire and why?

C.C.: My mother ... because my mother had unconditional love. And she believed in us. The reason I could answer that I don't believe there's anything I can't accomplish is because my mother gave me that. And she worked hard, she was loyal to her family and she taught us that. I guess that's it. That's enough for any mother to give any kid.

W: If you couldn't do what you're doing today, what would you be doing?

C.C.: I think I'd be a farmer.

W: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

C.C.: I guess it's one of my favorite sayings-If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything.

W: Did you take it?

C.C.: Yes, because it gives you courage. W: How do you hope to be remembered?

C.C.: By my kindnesses. That I was a kind person.

For seven years, Carol Couchie has worked as a midwife. She was a member of the first graduating class from Ryerson University's school of midwifery in 1998 and the first Aboriginal woman to become a registered midwife. Couchie is chair of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada's Aboriginal Health Issues Committee and a driving force behind the creation of the Association of Aboriginal Midwives. She helped to establish the Aboriginal Midwifery Education Program offered at the University College of the North. On Sept. 24, Couchie was one of four outstanding Ryerson graduates recognized with Alumni Achievement Awards.