Old Age Security Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. O-9)

Death

Marginal note:Application for pension by estate, etc.

• 29 (1) Despite anything in this Act, an application for a pension that would have been payable to a deceased person who, before their death, would have been entitled, on approval of an application, to payment of that pension under this Act may be made within one year after the person’s death by the estate or succession, by the liquidator, executor or administrator of the estate or succession or heir of that person or by any person that may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Pension payable to estate or other persons

  (2) If an application is made under subsection (1), the pension that would have been payable to a deceased person referred to in that subsection shall be paid to the estate or succession or to any person that may be prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Application deemed to have been received on date of death

  (3) Any application made under subsection (1) is deemed to have been received on the date of the death of the person who, before their death, would have been entitled to payment of the pension.

Marginal note:Retroactive application by survivor

• 30 (1) Despite paragraph 19(6)(b), if a person dies and the person’s survivor would have been entitled to an allowance under section 19 had the survivor and the deceased person made a joint application for it before the death of the deceased person, the survivor may make application for an allowance under section 19 within one year after the death of the deceased person.

• Marginal note:Treated as joint application

  (2) An application referred to in subsection (1) shall be considered and dealt with as though it had been a joint application of the survivor and the deceased person and had been received on the date of the death of the deceased person.

• (3) [Repealed, 2007, c. 11, s. 24]

Marginal note:Presumption as to death of applicant or beneficiary

• 31 (1) Where an applicant or beneficiary has disappeared under circumstances that, in the opinion of the Minister, raise beyond a reasonable doubt a presumption that the applicant or beneficiary is dead, the Minister may issue a certificate declaring that the applicant or beneficiary is presumed to be dead and stating the date on which the death is presumed to have occurred, and thereupon the applicant or beneficiary shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have died on the date so stated in the certificate.

• Marginal note:Change of presumed date of death

  (2) If, after issuing a certificate under subsection (1), the Minister is satisfied from new information or evidence that the date of death is different from that stated in the certificate, the Minister may revoke the certificate and issue a new certificate stating a different date, in which case the applicant or beneficiary shall be deemed for all purposes of this Act to have died on the date so stated in the new certificate.

• Marginal note:Where person presumed dead reappears

  (3) If, after issuing a certificate under this section, the Minister is satisfied from new information or evidence that the applicant or beneficiary named in the certificate is alive, the Minister shall forthwith revoke the certificate and cause that person’s benefits to be re-instated effective the month following the date of the person’s presumed death stated in the certificate, subject to the provisions of this Act relating to the person’s eligibility to receive those benefits.

• Marginal note:Death certificates issued by other authorities

  (4) For the purposes of this section, the Minister is not bound by the issuance or revocation of a death certificate by any other authority.

Erroneous Advice or Administrative Error

Marginal note:Where person denied benefit due to departmental error, etc.

32 Where the Minister is satisfied that, as a result of erroneous advice or administrative error in the administration of this Act, any person has been denied a benefit, or a portion of a benefit, to which that person would have been entitled under this Act, the Minister shall take such remedial action as the Minister considers appropriate to place the person in the position that the person would be in under this Act had the erroneous advice not been given or the administrative error not been made.

Availability of Information

Marginal note:Definitions

• 33 (1) The following definitions apply in this section and sections 33.1 and 39.

  administration

  administration includes the development, operation, evaluation and enforcement of policies and programs. (mise en oeuvre)

  federal institution

  federal institution means a department or any other body referred to in Schedule I, I.1, II or III to the Financial Administration Act. (institution fédérale)

  public officer

  public officer means an officer or employee of a federal institution, or a prescribed individual or a member of a prescribed class of individuals. (fonctionnaire public)

• Marginal note:Interpretation

  (2) The definition of a word or expression in subsection (1) does not affect its interpretation in any other provision of this Act.

33.01 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.02 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.03 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.04 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.05 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.06 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.07 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.08 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.09 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

Marginal note:Information obtained under other Acts

33.1 Despite any other Act or law,

• (a) the Minister of National Revenue or any person that he or she designates may make available to the Minister, or to a public officer of the Department of Employment and Social Development that is designated by the Minister, a report providing information that is available to the Minister of National Revenue, if the information is necessary for the administration of this Act;

• (b) the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and officers and employees of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration may make available to the Minister, or to a public officer of the Department of Employment and Social Development, any information that was obtained in the administration of the Citizenship Act or the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, if the information is necessary for the administration of this Act; and

• (c) the Commissioner of Corrections or staff members of the Correctional Service of Canada may make available to the Minister or a public officer of the Department of Employment and Social Development any personal information that was obtained in the administration of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, if the information is necessary for the administration of this Act.

33.11 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.12 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

33.13 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 299]

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

34 The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, may make regulations

• (a) prescribing the manner of making any application, statement or notification required or permitted by this Act, the information and evidence to be made available or allowed to be made available in connection therewith and the procedure to be followed in dealing with and approving applications;

• (b) prescribing the manner in which the average of the Consumer Price Index for any period of months shall be determined and the manner in which any such average that is determined to be a fraction of a whole number shall be expressed;

• (c) defining the expression “pension income” for the purposes of section 14;

• (d) for determining, for the purposes of any provision of section 14, the month in which or the month immediately before the month in which an applicant or an applicant’s spouse or common-law partner ceased to hold an office or employment, ceased to carry on a business or suffered a loss of income due to termination or reduction of pension income;

• (e) prescribing the circumstances that shall be deemed to constitute, or prescribing what shall be or shall be deemed to be, an application by or on behalf of persons who are qualified for a pension under this Act and who, on or before December 31, 1951, applied for or were granted a pension as defined in the Old Age Pensions Act, chapter 156 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1927, and prescribing the time at which such applications shall be deemed to have been made or approved;

• (f) prescribing the information and evidence to be made available or allowed to be made available by beneficiaries and the circumstances and form in which the information or evidence shall be submitted;

• (g) providing for the assignment of Social Insurance Numbers by the Minister to applicants and beneficiaries, and to the spouses or common-law partners of applicants and beneficiaries, to whom such numbers have not earlier been assigned;

• (h) defining residence and presence in Canada and defining intervals of absence from Canada that shall be deemed not to have interrupted residence or presence in Canada;

• (i) providing, in the case of an allowance the amount of which is less than such amount not exceeding two dollars as may be prescribed in the regulations, for the payment of the allowance to the beneficiary at such intervals less frequently than monthly as may be prescribed in the regulations, or for the payment monthly of the prescribed amount to the beneficiary;

• (j) providing for the suspension of payment of a benefit during an investigation into the eligibility of the beneficiary and the reinstatement or resumption of the payment thereof;

• (k) prescribing the circumstances in which the spouse or common-law partner of a pensioner shall be deemed to be separated from the pensioner for the purposes of paragraph 19(1)(a) and subsection 19(5);

• (l) prescribing the circumstances in which a pensioner shall be deemed to be separated from the pensioner’s spouse for the purposes of subsections 15(4.1) and (6.1);

• (m) prescribing the manner in which any amount required by this Act to be deducted and retained out of any benefit payment shall be so deducted and retained;

• (m.1) setting out the circumstances in which the Minister may allow a longer period to make a request under subsection 27.1(1) or (1.1);

• (n) prescribing the procedure to be followed on any reference under subsection 28(2);

• (o) providing for the making of any application or statement, or the doing of any other act or thing required or permitted by this Act, by any person or agency, and for the payment of a benefit to any person or agency, on behalf of any other person or beneficiary if it is established in any manner and by any evidence that may be prescribed by the regulations that the other person or beneficiary is, by reason of infirmity, illness, insanity or other cause, incapable of managing their own affairs, and prescribing the manner in which any benefit authorized to be paid to the person or agency shall be administered and expended for the benefit of the other person or beneficiary and accounted for;

• (p) providing events for the purposes of subsections 11(8), 19(6.2) and 21(9.1); and

• (q) prescribing anything that must or may be prescribed by regulations made under this Act.

• (r) and (s) [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 237]

34.1 [Repealed, 2012, c. 19, s. 238]

Marginal note:Regulations — payment of interest

34.2 The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the payment of interest on amounts owing to Her Majesty under this Act, including regulations prescribing

• (a) the circumstances in which interest is payable;

• (b) rates of interest or the manner of calculating rates of interest;

• (c) terms and conditions for the imposition and payment of interest; and

• (d) terms and conditions under which the Minister may waive, reduce or remit the interest payable.

Form of Documents

Marginal note:Form of applications, statements and notifications

35 Every application, statement or notification required or permitted by this Act shall be made or given in such form as the Minister may require.

Benefits

Marginal note:Making claim or providing information in person

35.1 The Minister may require an applicant or other person or a group or class of persons to be at a suitable place at a suitable time in order to make an application for benefits in person or to provide additional information about an application.

Marginal note:Benefit not assignable

• 36 (1) A benefit shall not be assigned, charged, attached, anticipated or given as security, and any transaction purporting to assign, charge, attach, anticipate or give as security a benefit is void.

• Marginal note:Benefit not subject to seizure or execution

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

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Despite subsections (1) and (1.1), if a provincial authority or a municipal authority in a province pays a person any advance or assistance or welfare payment for a month or a portion of a month that would not be paid if a benefit under this Act had been paid for that period and subsequently a benefit becomes payable or payment of a benefit may be made under this Act to that person for that period, the Minister may, in accordance with any terms and conditions that may be prescribed, deduct from the benefit and pay to the provincial authority or municipal authority, as the case may be, an amount not more than the amount of the advance or assistance or welfare payment paid.

• Marginal note:Reimbursement of Department of Veterans Affairs

  (3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (1.1), where any benefit is received for a month or any portion of a month after this subsection comes into force under any Act of Parliament that is administered by the Minister of Veterans Affairs, that would not have been received if a benefit under this Act had been paid for that period and subsequently a benefit becomes payable or payment of a benefit may be made under this Act to that person for that period, the Minister may deduct from the benefit and pay to the Department of Veterans Affairs an amount not exceeding the amount of the benefit if that person had, on or before receiving the benefit from the Department of Veterans Affairs, consented in writing to the deduction and payment by the Minister.