Former operator of expropriated care home sues WRHA

The former operator of a Winnipeg care home is suing the WRHA over the expropriation of the facility.

The former operator of a provincially expropriated care home is taking the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to court, asking a judge to cap how much it must pay for falling short of required resident numbers.

According to the statement of claim filed in Manitoba’s Court of King’s Bench, the dispute traces back to March 27, 2025, when Pembina Care Services Ltd.—led by president and CEO Dr. Scarlet Pollock—notified the WRHA of its intention to permanently close Golden Door Geriatric Centre.

The province previously said that by late January 2026, the 78-bed facility along Pembina Highway had 25 beds vacant. After an agreement couldn’t be reached to purchase the facility, the province said it opted to expropriate it.

In the lawsuit filed last week, Pembina Care Services is asking for a court declaration that it owes $387,128 to the WRHA following a nearly 17 per cent decrease in occupancy between April 2025 and February 2026. However, court documents show the WRHA claims it owes just over $1 million instead for not maintaining occupancy.

According to the lawsuit, which contains over a dozen pages of correspondence, the two parties entered into an agreement in 2019 that includes funding provisions, along with possible funding clawbacks unless special circumstances exist.

An excerpt of the agreement notes the facility must maintain an occupancy rate of 97 per cent, but the WHRA claims it had an occupancy rate of approximately 80.17 per cent between April 2025 and February 2026.

“As a result of the occupancy shortfall, Golden Door Geriatric Centre will be required to pay back an estimated amount of $1,083,157 to Winnipeg Regional Health Authority,” reads a letter from February included in the lawsuit.

‘Special circumstances do exist’: Former operator

However, according to a letter from Pollock included in the lawsuit, he claims special circumstances do exist that would prevent the financial clawback provision from taking effect. This included an alleged agreement with the WRHA to lower occupancy.

His letter also claims the WRHA delayed planning of the facility’s potential closure, waiting months for direction from the province, and that it gave directions to “maintain staffing and operations to fully support the value of the facility.”

Pollock claims the only costs that were impacted by the decrease in residents were nursing hours and wages, arguing that the clawback should only be $387,128.

“The WHRA cannot justify an adjustment for staffing where the targeted staffing—even when adjusting for the reduced occupancy—was below the staffing required and funding provided,” the health authority said in a letter to the facility’s lawyer.

“To allow your client to retain funding without maintaining the occupancy level or staffing levels for which it is funded is a dangerous precedent and an affront to public policy,” it reads.

In an email response also filed, lawyer Bob Sokalski alleged the WRHA agreed on March 29, 2025, to lowering occupancy as part of its obligation to “work together on transition planning.”

He also claims that several months later, “it purported to renege on its contractual obligations as a result of the Government of Manitoba apparently inserting itself into this matter” with the assertion that Pembina Care Services needed the WRHA’s and Asagwara’s approval to “sell, lease or otherwise dispose” of the facility.

However, Sokalski adds that Pembina Care Services had never expressed intent to “sell, lease or otherwise dispose” of the care home and that it clearly stated in March 2022 that it intended “permanent closure.”

The filing claims an interim manager was appointed by the province on Feb. 2 to take over the facility.

A spokesperson for Asagwara previously told CTV News that the province would not allow “publicly funded personal care home beds to disappear at a time when demand for long-term care is high across the province.”

“That outcome was unacceptable,” reads the statement in part.

The WRHA declined to comment as the case is before the courts.

No statement of defence has been filed, and none of the claims have been tested in court.

With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele and Jon Hendricks