Winnipeg's Victoria Hospital chosen as site for new addictions recovery centre for women

A new recovery centre for womennamed after a long-time Winnipeg addictions treatment advocate is set to be built at a south Winnipeg hospital.

More than two years after opening a men-only recovery centre with his wife, Scott Oake announced plans to open a new women-only centre at Winnipeg's Victoria Hospital.

"From the start of the project that became the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, a women's centre was always in our plans," Oake said at a news conference at the hospital on Wednesday.

Called the Anne Oake Family Recovery Centre in honour of his wife, who died in 2021 shortly after the Bruce Oake centre opened, the facility will provideextra beds and a licensed daycare on site to accommodate women and their children.

"Women often have a different set of needs when it comes to recovery than do men, and those needs often entail children," Oake said.

"A lot of women are reluctant to go into recovery because they're afraid they're going to lose their kids."

Oake announced his plans to open a women-only centrelast fall, but at that point the centre's location and opening date had not been decided.

The centre, which will have 50 to 70 beds at an estimated cost of more than $20 million, will befunded through the Bruce Oake Foundation, Oake said.

Premier Wab Kinew said when Oake approached him about opening the facility at Victoria Hospital, "it was an absolute immediate 'Yes.'"

"I think all of us have a deep reverence for the amazing work that Scott and his team have done with the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre, and they've helped so many men to be able to turn their lives around," Kinew said at the news conferencewhere he officially announced his plans to start construction on a new emergency room at Victoria Hospital within two years.

"But when Scott explained that he wanted to do the Anne Oake recovery centre so that women, so the two-spirit folks have a destination on their recovery journeys, I said 'Yeah, it makes perfect sense.'"

Oake says the centre will be larger than the Bruce Oake facility, a 43,000 square-foot building in Winnipeg's Crestview neighbourhood that cost $15 million.

That centrenamed after Scott and Anne's son, who died of a drug overdose in 2011has a 57 per cent success rate, Oake said.

'Too much bureaucracy' at MPI: Kinew

At the news conference Wednesday, Kinew said the government will spend $1.5 million this year to draw up design plans for the new ER.

He also commented on the recent cuts Manitoba Public Insurance made to its management team, saying the cuts will save Manitobans money.

"A five per cent savings on your Autopac this year, I think, is an important step we could take to help the average person who's dealing with the rising cost of living," he said. "There was too much bureaucracy at MPI."

MPI confirmed to CBC News on Tuesday it has eliminated 32 out of 174 budgeted management positions an 18 per cent reduction leaving 142 such positions.

Those cuts came after an external report found that too many managerial layers led to confusion and instability at the Crown-owned auto insurer.

Kinew said he wants to fix bureaucracy in other areas, but offered no details.