Manitoba marked the end of an era for the care of people with intellectual disabilities. The province acknowledged the closure of the Manitoba Developmental Centre in Portage la Prairie on Thursday with a ceremony at the legislature building. In attendance were family members and former residents of the centre. “I offer my most sincere and heartfelt apology to all former residents of the Manitoba Developmental Centre and their families. I am profoundly sorry for the harms that you experienced, for the loss that families endured, and for government policies and practices that restricted you from living in community and with your family,” Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine said at the ceremony. The MDC, which opened in 1890, housed 1,200 at its peak in the 1970s. The facility closed its doors last year, with the final residents moving into community care. The facility was mired in controversy, with former residents alleging abuse, neglect and mistreatment from staff. A class-action lawsuit brought by former residents against the province was settled in 2023 for $17 million. “It makes me happy that the MDC is forever closed and people with intellectual disabilities don’t have to worry about going back there,” said Sean Traverse, a former resident. “People with intellectual disabilities, myself included, should be able to live in a community rather than MDC because living at the MDC wasn’t the right placement for them. People who lived at MDC didn’t have any rights of where they lived, and bad things happened there.” The settlement included a formal apology from the Manitoba government, which was read by then-Premier Heather Stefanson in the legislature in June 2023. “We are sorry for our province’s history of forcing children and adults into an institutional model of care, for the resulting loss of family, culture and the right to be (a) valued member of a community,” Stefanson told the chamber. A plaque was unveiled at the ceremony, which will be placed in the MDC Cemetery. The future of the MDC land and facility has not been determined. -With files from The Canadian Press
