Work continues to bring public guardian Bill forward
Work to establish an Office of the Public Guardian is still under way, with legislation being drafted to allow a two-year pilot programme.
The agency, promised in the 2020 Throne Speech, would protect Bermuda’s seniors and other vulnerable residents, such as people with mental illnesses.
In the Senate this morning, Kim Wilkerson, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, said that the Government had heard from families, care home administrators and hospital staff, who detailed the situations they faced on the island.
She noted stories of seniors left in hospital while relatives claiming power of attorney occupy their homes, adults with intellectual disabilities ageing out of the Children Act with nothing to take its place and families who could not afford to apply to the Supreme Court for receivership — or who could but find themselves divided.
Ms Wilkerson added: “These accounts came directly from Bermudians and they explain why the Government has treated this work as a matter of real consequence.”
Delivering an update on work to create the office, Ms Wilkerson said that in June 2023, the Government had completed a scoping exercise to produce the policy foundation for the office.
She said that in October 2024, the Cabinet approved a two-year pilot programme for the office, approving funding and authorising drafting instructions for the necessary legislation.
Ms Wilkerson added: “I can advise that those instructions have now been issued to parliamentary counsel and the Public Guardian Bill is in active drafting.”
She said that while the pilot programme was approved, it could not be launched until the legal framework was in place to allow its operation.
Ms Wilkerson explained: “The Public Guardian’s work will involve investigating the circumstances of persons who may lack capacity, obtaining access to medical and financial records, applying to the court for guardianship orders and making welfare, health and financial decisions on another adult’s behalf.
“No public officer may exercise powers of that kind without statutory authority.
“Indeed, one of the reasons this legislation is needed at all is that officers of Ageing and Disability Services have for years been performing functions akin to guardianship out of sheer necessity, without a purpose-built framework, exposing both those officers and the Government to civil liability.”
She said that the Bill, based on Queensland, Australia’s Public Guardian Act 2014, would define the functions and responsibilities of the Public Guardian, including the criteria the court must apply when considering guardianship and safeguards such as reviews and the right to appeal.
Ms Wilkerson said that once the draft Bill was complete, the Government would issue it for consultation to receive feedback from stakeholders, the courts and the public.
She told the Senate that the reach of the office would extend beyond seniors, equally serving vulnerable adults with mental illness or intellectual disabilities, those in group homes or long-stay hospital wards and others.
She said: “At present, the Senior Abuse Register Act 2008 protects persons aged 65 and over and the Children Act protects those under 18.
“An adult between those ages with impaired capacity has, outside the narrow provisions of the Mental Health Act 1968, almost no protective framework at all.
“That gap has existed in our laws for generations and this legislation will close it for the whole of our vulnerable population.”
Ms Wilkerson also noted that the number of reports of senior abuse had more than doubled in three years. However, she said that greater public awareness about what constituted senior abuse had contributed to the increase.
She said: “Reporting is how hidden abuse is brought into the light and rising reports reinforce, rather than undermine, the case for the office we are establishing.”
Responding to questions in the Upper House, Ms Wilkerson said that the Government did not know for sure what the staffing needs for the office would be until it began its work, but it would be a discussion during the budget process.
Robin Tucker, the Shadow Minister of Youth and Family Services, last week called for action to bring the pilot programme into effect, stating the Opposition was “deeply alarmed” by the increase in abuse complaints.
She said: “Without an OPG, seniors at risk of physical, psychological or financial abuse are left without the independent oversight and advocacy they urgently need.
“The Government has acknowledged that demand for public guardianship is rising due to Bermuda’s ageing population, yet years later, Bermudians are still waiting for the promised safeguards to materialise.”
• To read the ministerial statement in full, see Related Media
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