Pension Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. P-6)

27 [Repealed, 2000, c. 34, s. 22]

Marginal note:Fees and charges to be certified

28 No action lies against any person in respect of services performed in connection with the preparation or prosecution of any application, unless the Minister has certified that the amount claimed is a fair and reasonable charge for the services rendered and properly payable by the person against whom the claim is made.

Marginal note:Payments

• 29 (1) Pensions or allowances shall be payable monthly at the end of each month.

• Marginal note:When payments to cease

  (2) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, but subject to paragraphs 21(1)(h) and (2)(c) and subsections 38(3) and 72(5), any pension or allowance awarded or paid under this Act ceases to be payable on the first day of the month following the month of the death of the person to whom or in respect of whom the pension or allowance is paid.

• (3) [Repealed, 1995, c. 18, s. 50]

Marginal note:Awards not to be assigned or charged

• 30 (1) No award shall be assigned, charged, attached, anticipated, commuted or given as security, and the Minister may refuse to recognize any power of attorney granted by a person with reference to the payment of an award.

• Marginal note:Exemption from seizure and execution

  (1.1) An award is exempt from seizure and execution, either at law or in equity.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where any provincial or municipal authority in a province pays a person any advance, assistance or welfare payment for a period that would not be paid if a pension or an allowance under this Act had been paid for that period and subsequently a pension or an allowance becomes payable or payment of a pension or an allowance may be made under this Act to that person for that period, the Minister may deduct from any retroactive payment of pension or allowance and pay to the government of the province an amount not exceeding the amount of the advance, assistance or welfare payment paid, if that person had, on or before receiving the advance, assistance or welfare payment from the government of the province or the municipal authority, consented in writing to the deduction and payment.

Marginal note:Disposition of pension or allowance

• 31 (1) Any pension or allowance held in trust by the Minister and due to a deceased pensioner at the time of death does not form part of the estate of the deceased pensioner.

• Marginal note:Pensioner’s last sickness and burial expenses

  (2) The Minister may direct the payment of any pension or allowance referred to in subsection (1) either to the pensioner’s estate or to the survivor or child or children of the pensioner, or to the survivor and child or children, or may direct that it be paid in whole or in part to any person who has maintained, or been maintained by, the pensioner or toward the expenses of the pensioner’s last sickness and burial.

• Marginal note:Non-payment of pension or allowance

  (3) If no order for the payment of a pension or an allowance referred to in subsection (1) is made by the Minister, the pension or allowance shall not be paid.

• 32 (1) [Repealed, 2000, c. 34, s. 25]

• Marginal note:Retroactive pension

  (2) If any person who is or has been in receipt of relief or unemployment assistance from the Department is or has been awarded a retroactive pension or a retroactive increase of pension, the difference between the amount actually paid by the Department and the amount that would have been paid if the retroactive pension or the retroactive increase of pension had been payable when the relief or unemployment assistance was issued shall be a second charge on the accumulated unpaid instalments of the pension and shall be withheld accordingly, subject to the payments to be made, as a first charge, to a province pursuant to subsection 30(2).

• (3) [Repealed, 2000, c. 34, s. 25]

33 [Repealed, 1995, c. 18, s. 53]

Children

Marginal note:Age limits

• 34 (1) No pension shall be paid to or in respect of a child after the last day of the month in which the child attained the age of eighteen years except

  • (a) where the child is unable to provide for the child’s own maintenance owing to physical or mental infirmity that occurred before the child attained the age of twenty-one years, in which case a pension may be paid while the child is incapacitated from earning a livelihood by the infirmity; or

  • (b) where the child is following and is making satisfactory progress in a course of instruction approved by the Minister, in which case the pension may be paid until the child has attained the age of twenty-five years.

• (2) [Repealed, 1989, c. 6, s. 30]

• Marginal note:When payable

  (3) The Minister may award a pension to or in respect of any child entitled to be maintained by the member of the forces in respect of whom pension is claimed.

• Marginal note:Child’s pension paid to parents, etc.

  (4) The Minister may direct that the pension for a child may be paid to the child’s mother or father, or to the child’s guardian, or to any person approved by the Minister, or direct that the pension be administered by the Department.

• Marginal note:Adopted child, foster child, etc.

  (5) When a child has been given in adoption or has been removed from the person caring for the child, by a competent authority, and placed in a suitable foster home, or is not being maintained by and does not form part of the family cared for by the member of the forces or the person who is pensioned as the former spouse, former common-law partner, survivor or parent of the member of the forces, or by the person awarded a pension under section 46, the pension for the child may, in accordance with the circumstances, be continued, discontinued or retained for the child for such period as the Minister may determine or increased up to an amount not exceeding the rate payable for orphan children, and any such award is subject to review at any time.

• Marginal note:Pension for children of deceased pensioner

  (6) The children of a deceased member of the forces who was, at the time of the death of the member, in receipt of a pension paid at a rate set out in one of classes one to eleven of Schedule I are entitled to a pension in accordance with the rates set out in Schedule II, regardless of the cause of that member’s death.

• Marginal note:Proportionate pension for children

  (7) The children of a deceased member of the forces who was, at the time of the death of the member, in receipt of a pension paid at a rate set out in one of classes twelve to twenty of Schedule I are each entitled to an equal portion of the greater of

  • (a) a proportionate pension equivalent to fifty per cent of the additional pension payable in respect of dependent children for the disability of the member, and

  • (b) a bonus payable by the Minister for the benefit of the child or children to such person as the Minister may direct and equivalent to the additional pension for one year payable to the member at the time of the member’s death in respect of a child or children of the member.

• Marginal note:Where pension suspended

  (7.01) Where the payment of the pension of a member of the forces was suspended at the time of the member’s death, the Minister may direct that the children be awarded the pension to which they would be entitled under subsection (6) or (7) if the pension had not been suspended.

• Meaning of minor child

  (7.1) For the purposes of subsections (8), (9) and (10), a child ceases to be a minor child after the last day of the month in which the child attains the age of eighteen years.

• Marginal note:Additional pension continued in certain circumstances

  (8) On and after

  • (a) the death of the spouse or common-law partner of a pensioner,

  • (b) the dissolution of the marriage of a pensioner,

  • (c) the separation of a pensioner from a spouse to whom or in respect of whom an additional pension is not being paid, or

  • (d) the cessation of cohabitation of a pensioner with the pensioner’s common-law partner,

  a pensioner pensioned on account of disability may be paid the additional pension for a spouse or common-law partner for so long as there is a minor child in respect of whom additional pension is being paid, if there is a person who is competent to assume and who does assume the household duties and care of the child or children.

• Marginal note:Pension on death of survivor

  (9) On and after the death of a survivor of a member of the forces who has been in receipt of a pension, or who would have been entitled to a pension but for the death, the survivor’s pension may be paid for so long as there is a minor child to or in respect of whom a pension is being paid, to a person who is competent to assume and who does assume the household duties and care of the child or children, and in those cases the pension payable in respect of those children shall continue to be paid.

• Marginal note:Pension payable to caregiver

  (10) Where a pension has been awarded to a minor child or minor children of a deceased member of the forces who had maintained a domestic establishment for the child or children and

  • (a) who, at the time of death, was himself or herself a survivor, or

  • (b) whose survivor does not receive a pension in respect of the death or receives only a portion of the pension,

  a pension and, if applicable, allowances under one or both of subsections 38(3) and 72(5), at respective rates not exceeding those that a survivor of the deceased member would be entitled to receive under this Act, may be paid to a person who is competent to assume and who does assume the household duties and care of the child or children, for so long as there is a minor child in respect of whom a pension is being paid, and in those cases the pension payable in respect of those children shall continue to be paid.

• Marginal note:Survivor and children

  (11) When pension is awardable under this Act in respect of the death of a member of the forces who died leaving a survivor and child or children, the child or children are entitled to a pension in accordance with the rate payable for orphan children in Schedule II or determined pursuant to subsection (7), whichever rate is applicable.

• Marginal note:Pension where both parents are members of the force

  (12) Where a pension is payable to or in respect of a child of members of the forces each of whom is or was a pensioner by reason of the member’s own disability,

  • (a) if one parent has died and a pension is payable in respect of the death of that parent, only one pension shall be paid to or in respect of the child and that pension, where the parent, at the time of death, was in receipt of a pension paid at the rate set out in one of classes

    • (i) one to eleven of Schedule I, is payable at the rate set out for an orphan child in Schedule II, or

    • (ii) twelve to twenty of Schedule I, is payable at the greater of

      • (A) the rate applicable to a child determined pursuant to subsection (7), and

      • (B) the rate set out in Schedule I applicable to the surviving parent with respect to a child; and

  • (b) if both parents have died and a pension is payable in respect of the death of each of them, only one pension shall be paid to or in respect of the child.

Pensions for Disabilities

Marginal note:Pension in accordance with extent of disability

• 35 (1) Subject to section 21, the amount of pensions for disabilities shall, except as provided in subsection (3), be determined in accordance with the assessment of the extent of the disability resulting from injury or disease or the aggravation thereof, as the case may be, of the applicant or pensioner.

• Marginal note:Maximum disability assessment

  (1.1) Despite anything in this Act, if the extent of disability of a member of the forces, in respect of the aggregate of all of the member’s disability assessments, exceeds 100%, no pension shall be paid in respect of any percentage points exceeding 100%.

• Marginal note:Veterans Well-being Act

  (1.2) Any disability assessments under the Veterans Well-being Act, in respect of a disability award or pain and suffering compensation, shall be taken into account for the purpose of determining whether the extent of disability exceeds 100%.

• Marginal note:How extent of disability assessed

  (2) The assessment of the extent of a disability shall be based on the instructions and a table of disabilities to be made by the Minister for the guidance of persons making those assessments.

• Marginal note:Statutory Instruments Act does not apply

  (2.01) The instructions and table of disabilities referred to in subsection (2) are exempt from the application of sections 3, 5 and 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act.

• Marginal note:Limitation on reduction

  (2.1) Where a member of the forces has attained the age of fifty-five years and the assessment of the extent of a disability of the member has remained unchanged for a period of three years or more, no reduction in the assessment of the extent of that disability shall be made.

• Marginal note:Pulmonary tuberculosis

  (3) Pensions for disability resulting from pulmonary tuberculosis, where during the treatment of a member of the forces the presence of tubercle bacilli has been discovered in the sputum or it has been proved that the disease is moderately advanced and clinically active, shall be awarded and continued as follows:

  • (a) in the case of a member of the forces who served in a theatre of actual war and whose disease was attributable to or was incurred or was aggravated during service, either during World War I or World War II, and in the case of a member of the forces who did not serve in a theatre of actual war and whose disease was incurred during service during either of those Wars, a pension of one hundred per cent shall be awarded as of the date of completion of the treatment and shall be continued without reduction for a period of two years, unless further treatment is required;

  • (b) in the case of a member of the forces who did not serve in a theatre of actual war and whose disease was aggravated during service, either during World War I or World War II, a pension of ninety per cent shall be awarded as of the date of completion of the treatment and shall be continued without reduction for a period of two years, unless further treatment is required;

  • (c) in the case of a member of the forces who has seen service in the non-permanent active militia or in the reserve army during World War II or in the case of a member of the forces who has seen service in peace time, whose disease occurred on service and arose out of or was directly connected with that service, a pension of one hundred per cent shall be awarded as of the date of completion of the treatment and shall be continued without reduction for a period of two years, unless further treatment is required;

  • (d) in the case of a member of the forces who has seen service in the non-permanent active militia or in the reserve army during World War II or in the case of a member of the forces who has seen service in peace time, whose disease was aggravated during service and the aggravation arose out of or was directly connected with that service, a pension of ninety per cent shall be awarded as from the date of completion of the treatment and shall be continued without reduction for a period of two years, unless further treatment is required; and

  • (e) after the expiration of two years, no pension awarded in respect of pulmonary tuberculosis shall be reduced by more than twenty per cent at any one time, nor shall reductions be made at intervals of less than six months, and paragraphs (b) and (d) do not apply if the disease manifested itself within a period of three months after enlistment.

• Marginal note:When no deduction from pension

  (4) No deduction shall be made from the pension of any member of the forces because the member undertook work or perfected themself in some form of industry.