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Posted Sep 11, 2026, 3:55 AM
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Moderator
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Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Posts: 8,449
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Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre
Location: 70 Snow Street
Neighbourhood: Montcalm - Waverley West Ward (Assiniboia Community Committee)
Developer: The Bruce and Anne Oake Memorial Foundation
Architect: MMP Architects Inc.
Status: U/C - 2026-05-27-Partial Foundation Permit
Documents: Conditional Use-October 9, 2025 | Appeal – February 25, 2026
Media: Description: The Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre is a planned women-only addictions treatment facility designed to honor the legacy of Anne Oake, a dedicated advocate for addiction recovery who passed away in 2021. Located on the corner of Snow Street and Dartmouth Drive behind Victoria General Hospital, the 75,000-square-foot, two-story facility will offer 50 to 70 beds and include a licensed on-site daycare to support women with children, addressing a key barrier to treatment by allowing mothers to remain close to their families during recovery. The centre will provide long-term residential treatment, modeled after the 16-week program at the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, which combines group therapy, one-on-one counseling, and evidence-based interventions like the Twelve Step Model with behavioral therapy. It aims to offer comprehensive recovery services in a supportive environment, with access to lifelong counseling and a sliding price scale to ensure no one is turned away due to financial constraints. The Manitoba government has committed $1.5 million ($1 million for construction and $500,000 for programming), and the Bruce Oake Memorial Foundation has a $35 million goal. The centre responds to Manitoba's high addiction rates and aims to reduce wait times, providing hope and healing for women and families. No opening date has been confirmed, but efforts are focused on completing the facility as quickly as possible.
Permits: 26-136190 DP-2026-06-04, Construct New. Bruce & Anne Oake Foundation - Development permit for the construction of a 3 storey 57552 sq. ft. women's rehabilitation center that will house both women and their children. -
Latest rendering as of Sept 2025:
Quote:
We’ll get there’
Retired sportscaster Oake determined as fundraising for addictions treatment facility named after late wife enters home stretch
Melissa Martin
Thursday, Sep. 10, 2026
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Scott Oake is confident of reaching its fundraising goal for the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre even after it rose to $35 million due to rising costs.
For now, the patch of land just east of the Victoria Hospital doesn’t look like much: just a field of rocks, mounded dirt, and concrete piles driven into the earth. Yet when Scott Oake looks over the site, he can already imagine how it will look in just over a year’s time, when the new Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre is expected to open.
It’s easier to picture this time around. In 2020, when the recently-retired CBC sportscaster and his late wife, Anne, were building their first labour of intermingled grief and love, the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre for men, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around how a raw construction site could transform into a welcoming addictions treatment facility.
When that centre opened in 2021, Oake found it looked “almost identical” to the architect’s renderings. So it’s easy to hope the Anne Oake Centre will be the same. It will be the first facility of its kind, its founders believe, not only in Canada but in North America: a place where 50 to 70 women can pursue sobriety while staying with their children.
“At Bruce Oake there’s a culture of love, and most of all a culture of hope,” Oake said, speaking at the site Thursday after a media conference to announce the final push of the centre’s fundraising campaign. “I can feel it every time I walk into that building. And I know it will be the same here.”
Unfortunately, love alone doesn’t buy steel. When the Anne Oake Centre was announced just two years ago, its fundraising goal was set at $25 million. That has now risen to $35 million, in part because construction costs have “skyrocketed,” Oake said, in part due to the U.S. trade war on Canada.
That new price tag for the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre is more than double what the men’s facility cost, but not only due to escalating costs. For one thing, it will be bigger, at 75,000 square feet, compared to the Bruce Oake Centre’s 43,000. It will also have on-site child care for women in the program.
“It will be worth every penny,” Oake said. “We’ll get there with the support of the community, and we’ll get there because we have to.”
The attendees at Thursday’s news conference gave a glimpse of how broad that cross-community support runs.
Iconic CBC sportscaster Ron McLean flew in from Toronto to emcee the event, which was held in advance of a fundraising evening gala with guest speaker Wayne Gretzky. Premier Wab Kinew was there, along with Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith and Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine; the province previously contributed $1.5 million to the centre.
Mayor Scott Gillingham attended, as did Winnipeg Jets assistant GM Craig Heisinger, Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid, and two of the capital campaign’s co-chairs, former premier Gary Doer and philanthrophist Bonnie Buhler. (The third co-chair, Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey, was busy skating.)
The show of solidarity from all three levels of local government stands in stark contrast to the fight the Oake family faced over eight years ago, when they were first working to get the Bruce Oake Centre approved and built in a tranquil corner of Crestview. Then, they faced sometimes heated resistance from some local politicians and residents.
But five years into operations at the Bruce Oake facility, opponents’ fears never materialized. The facility’s integration into the community has been easy; in fact, some of those who initially opposed its construction in their neighbourhood are now volunteers at the centre.
In a speech Thursday, Duguid, whose Winnipeg South riding includes the Anne Oake Centre, reflected on that shift.
“When people see what recovery actually looks like, and they meet the people whose lives are being transformed, fear can turn into understanding, and understanding can turn into support,” he said. “I can tell you that this project has been embraced by the community here. People understand why it is needed, and what it will mean.”
Though he gave no specifics, Duguid also stated he is “very confident, very optimistic” about a “significant” contribution from the federal government to help with the final $12 million fundraising stretch.
Winnipeg Free Press
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Quote:
A Message from Scott Oake President, Bruce and Anne Oake Memorial Foundation
Dear Friends,
There are moments in every journey when you pause, look around, and realize that what once seemed impossible is now becoming reality. Today is one of those moments.
I am incredibly proud to share that construction of the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre has officially begun.
After years of planning, advocacy, fundraising, and the unwavering generosity of people like you, the site is now alive with activity. Heavy equipment is on site, excavation is underway, and every day brings us one step closer to opening the doors of a place that will transform lives.
We remain on schedule to welcome our first families in December 2027. For the mothers and children waiting for help, that day cannot come soon enough. As you will see in the enclosed construction photos, what was once an empty piece of land is quickly becoming a place of healing and hope. Every foundation poured and every wall raised represents another family that will one day have the opportunity to recover together.
This Centre is being built in honour of Anne Oake, whose compassion, quiet strength, and unwavering belief that every family deserves hope continue to inspire all of us. Her legacy will live on within these walls, touching the lives of mothers and children for generations to come.
Your Impact Is Already Saving Lives
Five years ago, the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre opened its doors with one simple belief: everyone deserves the opportunity to recover, regardless of their financial circumstances.
Because of your generosity, that belief has become a reality for hundreds of individuals and families.
Bruce Oake Recovery Centre Today
569 Program Completions
207 Individuals Achieving One Year of Recovery
287 Individuals Currently Waiting for Admission
131 Individuals Ready for Admission Today
These are not simply statistics...
They are fathers who have reunited with their children.
Sons who have returned home.
Brothers, husbands, friends and colleagues who have rediscovered hope.
Every recovery creates a ripple effect that touches entire families and communities.
Yet these numbers also remind us that the need has never been greater.
Nearly 300 individuals remain on our waiting list, with another 131 ready to begin treatment today.
For women living with addiction, the barriers are even greater. Too often, mothers must choose between seeking treatment and remaining with their children.
The Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre will eliminate that impossible choice.
For the first time, mothers will be able to heal while keeping their children by their side—breaking the cycle of addiction and creating healthier futures for generations to come.
Campaign Progress...
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of donors across Manitoba and beyond, we have now raised:
$23 Million toward our $35 Million Capital Campaign Goal
Construction is underway because of you.
Every contribution has helped transform this vision into reality.
Every gift has brought us closer to opening our doors.
But we still have work to do.
As construction continues, every dollar donated today goes directly toward the construction of the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre, helping us complete a facility that will save lives for generations.
There Are Many Ways to Give
If you have been considering making a gift, there has never been a more meaningful time.
The Bruce and Anne Oake Memorial Foundation
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Last edited by Wpg_Guy; Sep 11, 2026 at 4:29 AM.
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