Calgary's new cancer centre to be named after Arthur Child following $50M donation

Calgary's newly built cancer centre has received a $50-million donation from the Arthur J.E. Child Foundation.

The donation, announced at a news conference Wednesday, means the $1.4-billion building is now named the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

"This historic donation, the largest gift for cancer care and research in our province's history, hits very close to home for me," said Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, adding she had eye cancer and lost her father and a sister to cancer when she was younger.

"I believe it hits very close to home for most of you as well."

LaGrange said hope is important for anyone who has encountered cancer.

"This gift will go a long way in the search for treatments and cures, and creates many reasons to have hope."

The facility, which is scheduled to open in 2024, is next to the Foothills Medical Centre and near the University of Calgary in the city's northwest.

Mauro Chies, president and CEO of Alberta Health Services, which delivers health care in the province, said it's an incredible gift.

"We are going to be able to transform the lives of so many patients and their families, and our staff," he said.

"This world-class facility will be a place of innovation, a place of research, keeping Alberta at the forefront of cancer care research and treatment."

Child, a former CEO of Burns Foods in Calgary who died in 1996, was described as a prominent businessman and philanthropist.

An online profile notes he was born in Surrey, England, and moved to Gananoque, Ont., at the age of three, before graduating from high school there and studying at Queen's University. He moved west in the 1960s.