Member of the Order of Canada

• Awarded on: May 12, 2016
• Invested on: May 12, 2017

Michael Charles Klein, C.M.
Roberts Creek, British Columbia

For his sustained contributions to integrating family medicine and maternity care in Canada.
Michael Klein has played a vital role in placing maternity care at the heart of family medicine. Refusing to serve in the United States medical corps during the Vietnam War, he fled to Canada in 1967 and went on to become a family practitioner, a pediatrician and a professor at McGill University and the University of British Columbia. Concerned by the harmful effects of certain medical interventions during the birth process, he advocated for family-friendly birth practices, including the re-introduction of midwifery, the promotion of doulas and the elimination of routine intrusive interventions such as episiotomy—all of which are now widely accepted in birth settings.



Michael Klein has played a vital role in placing maternity care at the heart of family medicine. Refusing to serve in the United States medical corps during the Vietnam War, he fled to Canada in 1967 and went on to become a family practitioner, a pediatrician and a professor at McGill University and the University of British Columbia. Concerned by the harmful effects of certain medical interventions during the birth process, he advocated for family-friendly birth practices, including the re-introduction of midwifery, the promotion of doulas and the elimination of routine intrusive interventions such as episiotomy—all of which are now widely accepted in birth settings.