A campaign to raise $25 million for the construction of a women-only addictions treatment centre is nearing the halfway point.
Scott Oake, Premier Wab Kinew and a slew of organizers held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday on what will become the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre, a facility focused on accommodating women and their children, at the Victoria General Hospital.
In April, a capital campaign for the facility was announced, with former premier Gary Doer, Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey and philanthropist Bonnie Buhler as co-chairs. On Tuesday, they announced $12 million had been raised.
Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre co-chair Gary Doer and Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean break ground on the facility Tuesday near the Victoria General Hospital.
Doer said they’re continuing to look for donors and called Manitoba a “generous province.”
“We’re confident that we can put a few pucks in the net to get the Anne Oake Centre built for women and their children,” he said.
The project comes several years after Scott and Anne Oake opened the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre in 2021, a men-only facility named after their son, who died of an accidental overdose at 25 in 2011.
Anne Oake died in 2021, shortly after the centre opened. Her husband said Tuesday a women’s facility was a dream for both of them.
“It’s always been the long-term goal of our foundation that once the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre was up and running with successful results and sustainable funding … that we would turn our attention to women,” he said.
The Anne Oake centre will have around 70 beds and family-focused on-site programming, including a child care facility. The opening date is to be determined.
As of April, 90 graduates of the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre program had celebrated a full year of sobriety.
Meanwhile, city council will hear from Lindenwoods residents Wednesday who are opposed to the planned use of a home in their community as a temporary live-in recovery space for people struggling with addictions.
Premier Wab Kinew speaks to the media during the event.
Non-profit Regenesis Centre for Recovery Inc., which prioritizes “wraparound secondary care to women and non-binary adults belonging to the 2SLGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and disabled communities,” plans to use the building to house six adults until August 2025 while they search for a permanent location, according the the appeal committee’s agenda.
There are 102 listed appellants on the agenda.
One appeal argues opening the facility could “attract individuals struggling with addiction who may not always adhere to the norms of community behaviour, potentially endangering the safety of our families and children.”
Premier Wab Kinew said he didn’t know the specifics of the issue but said everyone has a role to play in tackling the province’s addictions crisis.
“I’m somebody who’s made good on a second chance to come back from addiction. Recovery is possible, society and people turning their lives around is possible,” he said.
“I hope Manitobans are patient and understand that we’re going to have to work together on the addictions crisis, because we need solutions.”
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas
Reporter
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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