Our History
As Canada’s first and longest-running community health centre, Mount Carmel Clinic has a storied past based on providing community-focused care to the North End of Winnipeg.
The clinic was originally located in an old house that was redecorated for the clinic’s purposes. The kitchen was renovated into a pharmacy, which operated initially through donations.
The clinic very quickly outgrew its first location, and shortly thereafter planning began to fundraise for the construction of a new building. On June 16, 1929, construction began on the new clinic located at 120 Selkirk Avenue.
Due in part to the depression and war times, the clinic began to experience a rise in non-Jewish community members utilizing the clinic in the 1930s. By 1936, non-Jewish peoples made up one-third of the patients at the clinic.
As needs changed, the clinic shifted focus to broaden its scope. With the hiring of nurse Anne Ross, the clinic began to provide community-centred health services to those in the neighbourhood that needed it most. This included Newcomers and refugees from different parts of the world, as well as First Nations and Métis peoples moving to the city from reserves.
Over the course of two decades, the clinic went from seeing 3 to 4 patients per day, to seeing upwards of 120 patients each day. Mount Carmel Clinic’s services grew to include dental care, family planning resources, mental health supports, and a day nursery.
Anne Ross was hired in the early 1940s as one of the clinic’s first paid staff members, and quickly became a figurehead for the clinic. In 1964 she was formally appointed as executive director which allowed her the ability to speak on behalf of the clinic and implement new ideas. She was integral to the shaping of the clinic’s model of service and the development of many of the programs that still exist at the clinic today.
As the clinic continued to grow, it became clear that finding a much larger and permanent location for the clinic was necessary. After a decade of fundraising and a significant capital contribution from the government, a new building for Mount Carmel Clinic was constructed at 886 Main Street.
Upon the completion of the new clinic, focus quickly moved to the goal of raising funds for a building to house the clinic’s day nursery program, which provided supports for children ages 2 – 5 years. The MCC board of directors approved plans for the new building in 1983, and by 1985 the newly named Anne Ross Day Nursery was complete.
The Mount Carmel Clinic Foundation began a capital campaign in 2005 to fund substantial renovations to the clinic. By 2008, the clinic was able to execute phase one of the renovations: the retrofitting of 888 Main Street—the old bank building donated by CIBC--to house its administrative offices and outreach services.
It took another four years of fundraising to reach the goal of renovating the Anne Ross Day Nursery, located adjacent to the main clinic building. These renovations made the building fully accessible and allowed for an additional eight daycare spaces to be made available to the community.
The Mothering Project was developed to provide enhanced supports for mothers who are pregnant or have young children, and who struggle with substance use. With help from the Mount Carmel Clinic Foundation, a new space dedicated to the program was renovated in 2016.
Further renovations were undertaken at 886 Main Street. The clinic was able to address some necessary structural changes to the waiting room skylight as well as modernize the waiting room area and purchase new furniture to create a more comfortable space for the community.
With help from the Mount Carmel Clinic Foundation, the clinic was able to focus on improving the exterior of its 886 Main Street location, beginning in 2018. This included significant landscaping along the east and south sides of the building, enhanced accessibility measures at the front entrance, and a large outdoor play area for the daycare.
Identifying a need for more Indigenous programming, Mount Carmel Clinic invited highly respected cultural leaders Elder Mae Louise Campbell and Mitch Bourbonniere to join its staff team. Their expertise has allowed the clinic to expand its offering of drop-in and program-based Indigenous cultural activities.
