Groups face off over rehab centre

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This article was published 14/08/2018 (2081 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Fourteen boards illustrating the details of the Bruce Oake Memorial Recovery Centre stood in the main hall of the Sturgeon Heights Community Centre Tuesday night, and between them buzzed two groups mere inches apart in distance but miles apart in thought.

The proposed $14-million, 50-bed long-term addictions facility received council approval earlier this year to be built along Sturgeon Creek, where the shuttered Vimy Arena and its parking lot now stand unused. About 300 people were at the community centre on Tuesday for a meeting at which public feedback on the project was solicited, and there was no shortage of feedback.

The centre, planned to be built in memory of Bruce Oake, a Winnipeg man who died following a drug overdose in 2011, has long stirred the emotions of area residents, mental health advocates and local politicians. On Tuesday, large contingents on both sides of the issue turned out, filling in exit surveys, asking questions and doing their best to be heard above the noise.

Cherie Bunce, 75, sat by a window sill holding up a sign voicing her concerns with the centre, which she essentially boiled down to one phrase: not in my backyard. “I am not against rehab at all. I am very much against it in a residential area,” she said, suggesting it be moved to an industrial park nearby. “We want the Vimy Arena for our children, for their recreation, so that they don’t end up in drug rehab.”

Bruce Ashley’s son Robert grew up just a few minutes away from the proposed site, on Overdale Street. In January, he died of a drug overdose at 26. “Robert lived here,” said Ashley, whose eyes welled up as he walked around the room with a purple ribbon for addictions awareness pinned to his collar. He says a place like this could have saved his son’s life.

Nearby, a few people stood wearing white shirts reading “Say no!” When asked to elaborate as to why, one woman pointed at her shirt, and said, “There’s my answer.”

Steven Fletcher, the MLA for Assiniboia, who has been speaking on behalf of an opposition group called the Friends of Sturgeon Creek, was at the community centre as well. The group hired a lawyer this week over the land transfer through which the property was acquired by the province.

Fletcher suggested all available land in the province be inventoried to find a different location. When asked whether he’d oppose the construction of a recovery facility in Sturgeon Heights were it not for the land-transfer issues he pointed out, Fletcher said, “No. That’s not the issue for me.”

“Everyone is in favour of recovery centres and rehabilitation,” he said. “Everyone deserves to live a full and meaningful life, and we have an obligation to each other to support each other in times of need. It’s that simple… Irresponsible public policy without doing due diligence doesn’t help anyone over time. It just hurts everyone.”

Between the information boards, Robert Wrublowsky, the principal of MMP Architects, the firm hired to design the facility, stood surrounded by a circle of concerned citizens. The group, mostly comprised of middle-aged adults, was worried about potential decline in property values or in community safety. Wrublowsky addressed the concerns.

“Individuals that need the centre are somebody’s brother, somebody’s mother, somebody’s daughter. They’re all living in the community right now,” he said.

“Put this in your community then,” said Diana Groves, who lives across the creek. “I would welcome this in my community,” Wrublowsky replied. “Oh good,” she replied. “You’re willing to have it in your community — we aren’t.”

“They’re your neighbours, they’re your daughters, they’re your sons,” Wrublowky said.

“Well, they’re not mine,” Groves said. “It’s possible they could’ve been, though. That’s true,” she added afterward.

“Either you’re on board to be helpful and extend your arm to people who desperately want your help…” Wrublowsky started.

“We want to be. I will volunteer at the facility,” Groves said.

“But not if it’s in your backyard?” Wrublowsky asked. “That’s hypocritical, I’m sorry.”

“I believe we need a facility,” Groves told the Free Press after. “But I don’t believe that this is the right place where they have it right now.”

“I think the facility will save lives,” she added. “I just don’t want it there.”

Bruce Ashley said he’s angry that neighbours who think the facility could save lives are against it. Barb Ashley, Robert’s mother, echoed his frustration.

“It is my backyard,” she said. “And I want this there.”

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca