Nova Scotia·NewNova Scotia Justice Minister Becky Druhan says she can’t say why the public trustee has not filed annual reports for the last seven years and can’t say if vulnerable people’s finances have been managed properly.Justice minister says she can’t say if vulnerable people’s finances have been managed properlyTom Ayers · CBC News · Posted: Sep 22, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 40 minutes agoNova Scotia Attorney General and Justice Minister Becky Druhan says she just learned about the public trustee’s missing annual reports. (Patrick Callaghan/CBC)Nova Scotia Justice Minister and Attorney General Becky Druhan says she doesn’t know why the province’s public trustee has not filed annual reports for the last seven years despite a legal requirement to do so.She says she also can’t say whether the office is handling people’s money properly.The public trustee’s office, which is independent from government, looks after the financial and life decisions for some of the province’s most vulnerable citizens, including those deemed unable to manage their own affairs due to health or other reasons.It also represents children without guardians and can manage estates on behalf of people who have died without a will or are missing.The trustee’s last annual report covered the 2017-18 fiscal year.Druhan told reporters last week she couldn’t answer questions on whether the public trustee’s office was looking after people’s affairs properly.”I can’t speak to that, but I can say it only just recently came to my attention that those reports hadn’t been filed,” Druhan said.”I’ve been assured that they will be filed this fall and we will be reviewing them with interest.”Nova Scotia public trustee Shannon Ingraham-Christie says her office has been short-staffed and its workload has increased, but she plans to file all the missing reports this fall. (Robert Short/CBC)Public trustee Shannon Ingraham-Christie would not do a recorded interview, but she recently told CBC News she is working on all the missing annual reports and expects to present them to the justice minister soon.Ingraham-Christie said she has filed audited financial statements with the province every year.”There hasn’t been a concern about finances because everyone knows what’s happening … and the audits have all come back clean,” she said.The trustee said annual reports contain the audited financial statements and add details on the number and types of cases the office handles.The last annual report posted on the website shows the office managed just over $59 million in assets.The most recent audited financial statement for 2024-25 shows that number has grown in the last seven years to nearly $81 million, there’s no way to know the reasons for the increase without an annual report.Short-staffed, increased workloadIngraham-Christie said the reports have been delayed because her office has been short-staffed and its caseload has grown as baby boomers age and move through retirement.She also said the pandemic and the mass casualty incident in 2020, which resulted in 22 deaths, affected the office’s ability to complete its work.The caseload also increased when the province assigned the office responsibility for dealing with all unclaimed human remains, Ingraham-Christie said.In an emailed statement, the justice department said the government is committed to accountability and transparency and it expects all agencies and offices to meet their legislative requirements.Even though the minister said she wasn’t aware of the missing annual reports until just recently, the department said it “maintains regular touchpoints with the [public trustee’s] office and reviews its audited financial statements, ensuring government remains fully informed.”ABOUT THE AUTHORTom Ayers has been a reporter and editor for 39 years. He has spent the last 21 covering Cape Breton and Nova Scotia stories. You can reach him at tom.ayers@cbc.ca.
N.S. public trustee to file annual reports missing for last 7 years
