Recovery centre selling condos that once made a reunification village

Units that once housed Aurora Recovery Centre's Aurora Reunification Village are up for sale. The condo building on Waverley St. is pictured in an undated image. (Alexandra Holyk/CTV News Winnipeg)

Aurora Recovery Centre (ARC) has more than two dozen condominiums up for sale, all in a Linden Woods-area development.

The units used to make up the Aurora Reunification Village, which was created to reconnect mothers with their children while in recovery.

But in November 2024, a judge ruled the families had to move, saying ARC was operating a business on the property which is against the development’s Condominium Declaration.

“My lawyer said I could probably stay, but our people here, our staff and our clients, knew they weren’t wanted, and it felt uncomfortable, so that we that’s why we moved,” said ARC owner and president Michael Bruneau.

Bruneau said the families that were living in the village have all be moved to different ARC facilities in either Brandon, Gimli or Estevan, Sask.

Bruneau told CTV News Winnipeg he owned 26 units in the West Building at 873 Waverley Street.

He is now selling them and is expecting to take a loss on the investment. So far, he has sold two.

“I purchased them. I held them for a year and then now I’m renovating them. I might not sell them for months yet,” he said.

He’s now looking for a different building inside the city to house the reunification village.

“What we’re doing is getting families together, children with their parents,” he said. “Please, when, if we come to your part of town, we know we’re okay. We have good people trying to get their life together and live, just trying to make it a better city.”