Winnipeg’s Property and Development Committee has given the green light to sell the old Vimy Arena to the province.
The vote came early Monday evening after a long day full of delegates speaking for and against the sale, meaning the addition of a 50 bed addiction facility at the site is closer to a reality.
The city valued the land at $1.43 million but the province offered to pay $1 for the land, which this committee recommended doing. The province would then rent it to the recovery centre for $1 per year.
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The proposed recovery centre is in memory of Bruce Oake, the son of veteran Canadian sportscaster Scott Oake and brother of magician Darcy Oake.
Scott Oake was at the hearing and spoke to the committee about the resistance the recovery centre has received.
“This fear that there will be roving bands of drug addicts to terrorize the neighbourhood is ill-founded,” Oake said. “We’ve had long and frequent email exchanges with residents who were initially opposed to the project whom, once they got the facts in front of them, decided to be supports of the project.”
“For the most part, we feel the sentiment has changed in our favour.”
On the recovery centre’s website it says their goal is to “address all the dimensions of the person, with no financial barriers to entry.”
“We’re in this to try to make a difference. There’s no financial gain for anyone in this project, least of all our family,” Oake told Global News after the vote. “We’ve worked long and hard on this project. This was an enormous hurdle to clear and we are ecstatic.”
St. Charles Councillor Shawn Dobson has been vocal in his disapproval of the potential for a treatment centre opening up in his ward. He was the lone member of the committee to vote against it.
READ MORE: St. James residents discuss proposed addiction centre
Vimy Arena was declared surplus to the city’s needs nearly five years ago, and the Bruce Oake Foundation expressed its interest in using the property as a treatment centre in 2017.
The sale still needs to be approved by the Executive Policy Committee and then Council before it’s a done deal.
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