Fraud sentencing Jan. 6 for former CEO of Halifax children’s hospital Tracy Kitch

Tracy Kitch, centre, the former chief executive of the IWK Health Centre, a children's hospital, heads from provincial court during a break in Halifax on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX — Sentencing has been set for early in the new year for the former CEO of a Halifax children’s hospital who was found guilty of fraud in two separate trials.

Nova Scotia’s Public Prosecution Service says Tracy Kitch appeared by video Tuesday in a Kentville, N.S., court where her sentencing date was set for Jan. 6 in the same court.

Kitch was convicted in February 2022 of fraud over $5,000 for billing personal expenses to the IWK Health Centre such as airline flights.

She was put on trial for a second time after the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled that the initial trial judge failed to adequately explain the reasons behind his decision to convict her.

On Friday, associate provincial court Judge Ronda van der Hoek convicted Kitch, saying the ex-CEO’s actions deprived the hospital of funds for the health-care needs of mothers and children.

During the retrial the prosecution estimated Kitch’s personal spending amounted to more than $30,000 on a corporate credit card while she was CEO at the hospital between 2014 and 2017.

Van der Hoek released her written decision on Tuesday.

“At its core, this case is about allegations involving an employee who used corporate resources for personal purposes that were not identified,” wrote the judge.

Kitch was initially sentenced to five months in jail but she only spent one night in jail before she was released on bail pending her appeal. In March 2023, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal called for a new trial.

During the second trial the prosecution noted that it was impossible to account for all of Kitch’s fraudulent spending because of her “poor record keeping practices.”

“She (Kitch) was not tracking her personal use of corporate resources in any meaningful manner and never intended to pay back those expenditures,” van der Hoek wrote. “The evidence demonstrated the incomplete nature of her accounting and in turn fraud.”

The judge said it was clear that almost all of the spending was the result of Kitch not committing to live in Nova Scotia while using IWK resources to “regularly reunite with her family/life in Toronto.”

She also highlighted the testimony of the lead investigator in the case for Halifax Regional Police, Const. Christian Pluta, who obtained Kitch’s personal credit card and banking records in order to determine whether she was in “financial distress” during the time of her IWK credit card use.

Pluta said the records indicated 38 bounced cheques between December 2014 and October 2015, payday loans and bank overdraft charges.

“On the credit card he noted a significant rate of declines and one that matched a corporate credit card transaction — Ralphies Cafe Italiano,” the judge wrote.

Van der Hoek said that ultimately she found Kitch’s actions dishonest and that “a reasonable person would find them so.”

The judge said Kitch admitted to a “significant number” of the personal charges and flights, but only after being “caught out.”

In October 2016 her expense records were posted on a public website, as required by the provincial government, and eventually drew media attention. Kitch was charged in October 2018.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2025.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press