The death of a newborn last week at a birthing centre in Pointe-Claire is now being investigated by the Quebec Order of Midwives, along with the Montreal Police and the coroner's office.

The president of the Quebec Order of Midwives, Claudia Faille, says she was at the Lac St. Louis Birthing Centre at 180 Cartier Ave. when a girl died Tuesday morning of a cardiac arrest just moments after she was born.

A 9-1-1 call was placed during the labour, but first respondents were denied access to the building until police arrived to allow them in.

The birthing centre said its midwives were best trained to care for the baby until an ambulance arrived from the Montreal Children Hospital, but regardless, a representative of the Montreal Fire Department said Tuesday that whenever a 9-1-1 call is placed there are certain legal obligations that come into play.

"In this particular case, firefighters were not able to see the child or the mother to whom they were dispatched to provide care," said Richard Liebmann. "They needed some kind of proper assurance that that person was indeed being properly cared for."

The birthing centre says the 9-1-1 call was originally placed because the mother was in distress, but in the three minutes it took firefighters to arrive the baby was born, and at that point it was the three midwives in the room who were best trained to handle the situation.

Liebmann says first responders do have some neo-natal training and that they have neo-natal kits with them.

Faille says that it was explained to the firefighters that there were three midwives caring for the baby and that they were fully qualified to do so. However, she admits that official documents were not produced.

Midwifery has been recognized in Quebec since 1999, and Faille feels that being told there were three midwives caring for the baby should have been satisfactory for the firefighters.

Trista Leggett, a midwife at the birthing centre, said Saturday they are fully capable of handling such an emergency.

"We have the specialized training, the specialized equipment, we re-certify regularly," she said. "We practice with the team at the Montreal Children's Hospital and we were the ones that were the best qualified to work on the baby until it could be seen by the Montreal Children's Hospital."