A Bruce Oake Recovery Centre reserved for women is coming to Winnipeg.
Scott Oake, famed Canadian sportscaster and father of Bruce Oake, made the announcement of a second addictions treatment facility to supporters at the annual Hockey Night in Canada at the MET gala Tuesday evening.
“We’ve always said that we don’t need one Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, we need 10 because addiction has such a long, cold hold of our city, our province, our country,” he told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg Wednesday morning.
The new facility will be named the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre, after Scott’s wife, Anne, who died in 2021 at the age of 65.
The Bruce Oake centre was named after Scott’s 25-year-old son, who died of an accidental overdose in 2011.
The current facility, which opened its doors in 2021, is a 50-bed residential facility for men. Scott said the foundation wanted to build on the recovery centre’s success and offer the same opportunity to women.
“Women need recovery just as much as men, that’s a given.
“Women are sometimes reluctant to go into recovery because they’re afraid they’re going to lose their kids, so a women’s facility has to have a significant daycare component. This place will.”
Scott said when his son died, instead of resigning himself to his grief, he chose to give voice to it.
When his wife died, he did the same thing.
“What would (Anne) want? Would she want us to be consumed by our grief? Or would she want us to get at it and help more people? And that’s what we’re doing,” Scott said.
According to data from Manitoba’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, at least 424 Manitobans died from drug-related overdoses in 2022, up from 407 in 2021.
The Bruce Oake centre’s announcement did not come without controversy, as after it was announced it would be located in the city’s Sturgeon Creek neighbourhood, area residents protested its construction.
In 2021, a provincial audit found the City of Winnipeg did not follow proper procedure when selling the land it was built on, noting that parties interested in purchasing the Vimy Arena, the building formerly on the parcel of land, did not have an equal opportunity to submit proposals.
Despite its bumpy beginnings, the recovery centre is busier than ever, with a success rate of 57 per cent — one of the highest in the country — and a lengthy wait-list.
Scott said while he knows the two centres won’t end the addiction and substance abuse crisis the province is facing, he’s pleased to be part of the solution.
“We have to live with this, but we don’t have to surrender to it,” he said.
The Buhlers, another philanthropic family in the city, pledged $1 million at the gala toward the centre’s construction. No timeline or location for the facility was made available.
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