O n a warm summer evening in June 2023, I walk into a bright, modern facility in the West End of Winnipeg to attend an alumni milestone event at the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre—what the staff and participants informally call Birthday Night.
Bruce Oake is an addiction treatment centre that’s named after my oldest son. Bruce died of a drug overdose more than a decade earlier, but he’s never far from my mind—especially here. As I walk through the centre’s front doors, I see the glass memorial case that holds Bruce’s remains, and I rub the top of it to say hello, the same way I do every time I enter or leave the building.
