Addressing an error in a single case can reduce the chance of repetition.

Kylie contacted us when she found out that the Delegated Aboriginal Agency (DAA) responsible for her personal guardianship failed to notify the Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) of her parent’s death while she was in the ministry’s care.

The PGT did not find out about Kylie’s parent’s death until nine years later. As a result, the PGT was only able to recover one year of retroactive Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Surviving Child’s Benefits due to federal government policy.

The PGT calculated Kylie’s financial loss to be $23,000. While the PGT attempted to have the DAA compensate Kylie for her loss, it was unable to resolve the matter before she aged out of care.

Our office investigated whether the DAA was liable for failing to notify the PGT of Kylie’s parent’s death in a timely manner.

Based on the information provided to us from the DAA, we identified that there had been significant progress made in addressing this matter.

DAA staff had reviewed Kylie’s file and determined standards had not been followed when recording her parent’s death and notifying the PGT. The DAA accepted liability for Kylie’s financial loss and agreed to pay her the full amount of her financial loss.

The DAA also confirmed they had been in contact with Kylie and that she was aware she would be reimbursed.

With respect to the administrative procedures that led to the error, DAA staff advised our office that a review of the circumstances that led to the gap had been completed. This led to the DAA following up with all guardianship staff to reinforce the importance of recording and reporting key information in a timely manner. Additionally, a working group with the PGT had been initiated to review the information sharing process between the two organizations with the aim of improving and better connecting their organizations.

As it appeared that the DAA had taken adequate steps to address the matter, we closed our file.