Matthew Perry’s name lives on to help people struggling with addiction in Ottawa

A rendering of The Matthew Perry House. (Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada)

Actor Matthew Perry’s name lives on through an organization that aims to help people struggling with addiction.

Launched in Ottawa in the fall of 2024, The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada was founded by Perry’s family and friends. Executive director Caitlin Morrison is his sister. Perry’s mother Suzanne Morrison is also on the board of directors, alongside Brian Murray, vice president of the Ottawa-based Waterford Property Group and a childhood friend of Perry, and Cara Vaccarino, the president and CEO of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre.

“Aside from being the biggest Senators fan in the entire world, he is an Ottawa boy,” Perry’s sister Caitlin Morrison told CTV News Ottawa.

The actor and playwright grew up in Ottawa before finding international stardom on the TV series “Friends.” He died in 2023 in Los Angeles after struggling for years with his own addictions to drugs and alcohol. Since his death, charges have been laid against several people accused of supplying Perry with the drug ketamine, including a doctor who pleaded guilty to a drug charge.

On Wednesday’s Bell Let’s Talk Day, Morrison spoke with CTV News Ottawa about her brother, and the foundation that carries on his name.

“The Matthew Perry Foundation of Canada is an organization that believes four weeks of treatment isn’t enough. And we’re trying to create a continuum of care for people to help them achieve long term recovery from substance use disorder and find a prosperous, healthy, happy life,” she says.

Morrison says the foundation started out of love for Matthew, “and wanting to do something that continued, something that was very important to him. But it also addresses a major concern in Canada that’s also faced in much of the world, which is a crisis that is taking lives and tearing families apart and harming economies, and a situation where there just isn’t enough care to get people through what is a disease that requires long term care.”

She says the foundation operates to help support people “that move from early recovery to long-term recovery. She adds that the foundation has recently launched two peer support programs – for individuals and families.

Matthew Perry House

Morrison says there will be a ground-breaking on the Matthew Perry House in Ottawa later this year, “which will be a residential community of people who are in recovery anywhere up to three or four years of recovery, with all of these supports on site.”

She says there will be three residential buildings and a community centre that connects them all.

“We’re hoping to open at least one of the buildings in early 2027,” she added.

Morrison says further details on the project are expected later this year.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Ted Raymond