A drug treatment centre seeking to temporarily set up in a Linden Woods home is facing resistance from some area residents.
The Regenesis Centre for Recovery wants to open its first facility so it can help women and members of the LGBTTQ+ community. The centre gives priority to people who are also Indigenous, a person of colour or disabled.
The non-profit organization wants permission to operate in the house temporarily while it searches for a permanent location.
Area residents are already applying to appeal the city’s decision to grant a conditional use permit allowing Regenesis to operate the facility. An online petition against the facility garnered more than 1,000 signatures in its first five days.
Cindy Foster, the Regenesis Centre’s executive director, said up to six people at a time would stay there after already being sober for 30 consecutive days. The centre would help them take the next step and take part in outreach programs while living in the home.
A city report says Regenesis plans to be out of the location by August 2025.
“We want to provide a safe place,” Foster said Wednesday.
“This is not just a place to recover from addiction, but also a place which provides protection for the discrimination they face which leads to the addiction.”
Not a detox facility
Foster’s organization has canvassed the area around the residence, receiving letters of support from some adjoining neighbours and other area residents.
Foster said the Linden Woods facility is not a detox facility.
“This is for people further along in their journey,” she said. “The need for addiction recovery centres are needed in Winnipeg and across the country.”
Foster said she is hoping providing additional information about what Regenesis plans to do will help dispel the fears of some area residents.
No one opposed to the project could be reached for comment.
Lauren Hope, who said the site is close enough to her house that she walks past it with her dog daily, said she supports the project.
“I’m disappointed to see there are folks against this,” Hope said.
“There is no study that has shown that having a recovery centre in a neighbourhood makes it more dangerous. We can’t pretend in Linden Woods that the only recovering drug users are only in that house. Drug use knows no geographic boundaries.”
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
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