Tracy Keach, the former CEO of IWK Health Center in Halifax, was sentenced Wednesday to five months in a Nova Scotia jail followed by 12 months’ probation for defrauding over $5,000.
Sentencing her in a Halifax courtroom, Judge Paul Scoville said Keach had “taken advantage of her position to effectively use her spending account as her personal piggy bank” – actions he said required a sentence that created a strong public deterrence and condemnation.
“This was a highly paid public servant who chose not to follow clear regulations on expense accounts at IWK Children’s Hospital,” Scoville said.
“She ignored these provisions to benefit herself financially.”
Crown attorney Peter Dostal spoke to reporters. (CBC)
Under the terms of her probation, Kitch is prohibited from seeking, obtaining or continuing employment or a volunteer position in any capacity that involves authority over real property or money during the 12-month period.
Kitsch was convicted in February after a trial in provincial court that ran into late 2021 and early 2022. She was charged after a 2017 investigation by the hospital showed she spent $47,000 on fees considered for personal, on a corporate credit card, much of which involved traveling back and forth to her home in Ontario, where her family lives. She returned the hospital all the money.
CBC News reporting first drew attention to Kitch’s expense claims.
Outside the courtroom, Crown attorney Peter Dostal said he was pleased with the sentence, which he said recognized the seriousness of the crime by someone in Kitsch’s position.
“We’re not here just for the dollar amount,” he told reporters.
“We are here because of the exploitation of the position and we feel that a sentence of five months adequately reflects that seriousness.”
Jacqueline King and Brian Greenspan, attorneys for Tracy Keach, speak to reporters outside a Halifax courtroom. (Paul Poirier/CBC)
Kitch’s defense team argued that a suspended sentence with time served under house arrest could just as successfully serve the purpose of sending a strong public message.
Brian Greenspan told reporters that the Supreme Court of Canada has made clear that “society and people should not think that house arrest is child’s play, that house arrest is not a serious encroachment on someone’s liberty” and that it can achieve the same goals as imprisonment in certain cases.
There are other considerations, he said.
“Every time someone goes to jail, the community pays for it. There’s a cost to the community for that, and if it doesn’t achieve anything greater than what you can achieve with house arrest, then why bother?”
Appeal plans
Before she was sentenced, Kitch told the court she had worked closely with her lawyers on their sentencing submissions, but made no further comment.
Kitch is scheduled to serve her sentence at Burnside Prison, although she is expected to be released on bail after a hearing on Thursday.
She is appealing her sentence.
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