Ceremonial groundbreaking for Matthew Perry House takes place Thursday

The late Matthew Perry’s family returned to Ottawa Thursday for a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Matthew Perry House. CTV’s Natalie Van Rooy reports.

A future treatment facility named after the late Hollywood actor Matthew Perry is one step closer to serving people in the Ottawa area.

A ceremonial groundbreaking and symbolic tree planting event took place on Thursday, led by the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada, at the future location of the site at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre on Carling Avenue. The event started at 4 p.m.

“It’s the beginning of the building of Matthew Perry House, which is going to be a new kind of place and the first one right here in Ottawa, where people can access long-term recovery support that gives them a better chance at an extraordinary life after substance use,” said Caitlin Morrison, executive director of the Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada and sister of the late actor. “The facility will be somewhere between 150 and 170 residential units, including some for people who have small children and still need support. There will also be a big community centre where people will have access not just to recovery type programs, but also to career training, apprenticeship services, mental health supports, financial management planning, art therapy, and other services.”

Matthew Perry grew up in Ottawa before finding international stardom on the TV series Friends. He died in 2023 in Los Angeles after struggling for years with drug and alcohol addiction. An autopsy report ruled that he died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine. Following his death, several people were charged with supplying Perry with the drug, including a doctor who later pled guilty.

“This was a place (Ottawa) where he came to at the end of his life and reconnected with old friends, reconnected with the place where he grew up,” said Keith Morrison, Matthew Perry’s stepfather and NBC Dateline correspondent. “It’s when he began to talk about what he hoped his legacy would be, just toward the end of his life. He had no idea that he was going to pass away, but it’s when this idea caught hold in his head and so now it gives us all a purpose. He gives us a mission.”

The location of the facility will be at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre on Carling Avenue.

“When I think about this program, not only do I think it’s something that he would be proud of, but I also think it’s something that would have been the ticket for him in terms of a truly successful and extraordinary life,” said Caitlin.

Morrison says they’re aiming to open the facility by early 2027. She says they will receive recommendations from treatment providers on who to accept to the facility.

Perry’s stepfather said it’s been special to be back in the nation’s capital for the ceremonial groundbreaking.

“I love this town. I’ve always loved this place,” he said. “I was wandering around in the more ceremonial parts of town today, up by the Parliament buildings and it gives me such a thrill to be here and yesterday wandering around over in Rockliffe Park, where Matthew played tennis and hung around with his pals. It just gave me a good feeling to be here.”

Caitlin said the facility has helped Perry’s family find purpose in the aftermath of the 54-year-old’s sudden death.

“Suzanne, Matthew’s mother, has suffered I think more than anybody,” he said. “And as any mother who has lost a child will tell you, grief will have its way with you in a variety of ways for a very long time. It never ends, but this has given her something to hang on to.”

The facility will be offering recovery type programs, career training, apprenticeship services, mental health supports, financial management planning and art therapy for people who have already gone through initial treatment.