Brandon YWCA plans $40-million Women’s Campus

YWCA Westman has unveiled plans for a $40-million Women’s Campus in downtown Brandon that would give women and children fleeing violence emergency shelter, housing and health and justice supports under one roof, including southwestern Manitoba’s first dedicated sexual assault examination space.

The organization announced the project Thursday after three years of planning. Executive director Lois Ruston said the multi-storey campus would include 40 emergency beds, 20 supportive housing units, crisis response, health services, justice supports, cultural supports and community programming.

“The campus is really designed to be a space that provides care, support and services for women and their children who are fleeing violence and then rebuilding their lives following that violence,” Ruston said.

The campus is meant to raise emergency housing capacity by 35 per cent. The YWCA supported more than 450 people fleeing violence in 2025, including 184 children, and responded to more than 830 crisis calls. Ruston said the organization had to help 75 people find other safe shelter because its women’s shelter was full.

The examination suite would let people receive care and testing, and an interview space would allow them and, if needed, child witnesses to be interviewed in a trauma-informed setting. The YWCA is also exploring a remote testimony room so people could appear in court by video link instead of at the courthouse.

The campus will rise on the site of Meredith Place, the YWCA’s downtown building at 11th Street that served women for more than a century before it was deconstructed after water damage and a burst pipe in January 2023, according to DiscoverWestman. The shelter there had opened in 1978 as Brandon’s first women’s shelter.

Planning has been funded by the provincial and federal governments and donors, and Ruston said more than $1 million has been received so far.

Kim Iwasiuk, director of counselling and advocacy at the Women’s Resource Centre in Brandon, called a dedicated space for sexual assault nurse examiners “absolutely amazing.” She said her staff constantly deal with waitlists and that the work needs government capacity building, sustainability and funding.

Brandon’s community groups have been busy this fall. We also reported that a Brandon makerspace received $100,000 to refurbish mobility equipment.

Sources: CBC News, DiscoverWestman.

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