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

Marginal note:Amount of full monthly pension

• 2.1 (1) In this Act, a reference to the amount of a full monthly pension means the amount of a full monthly pension, as it is calculated in accordance with section 7, that has not been increased under subsection 7.1(1) or (2).

• Marginal note:Monthly pension

  (2) The terms pensioner’s monthly pension in subsections 12(5) and 22(2) and pension in subsection 12(5.1) mean, respectively, a pensioner’s monthly pension and a pension that have not been increased under subsection 7.1(1) or (2).

2.2 [Repealed, 2016, c. 7, s. 188]

PART IMonthly Pension

Pension Payable

Marginal note:Payment of full pension

• 3 (1) Subject to this Act and the regulations, a full monthly pension may be paid to

  • (a) every person who was a pensioner on July 1, 1977;

  • (b) every person who

    • (i) on July 1, 1977 was not a pensioner but had attained twenty-five years of age and resided in Canada or, if that person did not reside in Canada, had resided in Canada for any period after attaining eighteen years of age or possessed a valid immigration visa,

    • (ii) has attained sixty-five years of age, and

    • (iii) has resided in Canada for the ten years immediately preceding the day on which that person’s application is approved or, if that person has not so resided, has, after attaining eighteen years of age, been present in Canada prior to those ten years for an aggregate period at least equal to three times the aggregate periods of absence from Canada during those ten years, and has resided in Canada for at least one year immediately preceding the day on which that person’s application is approved; and

  • (c) every person who

    • (i) was not a pensioner on July 1, 1977,

    • (ii) has attained sixty-five years of age, and

    • (iii) has resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age and prior to the day on which that person’s application is approved for an aggregate period of at least forty years.

• Marginal note:Payment of partial pension

  (2) Subject to this Act and the regulations, a partial monthly pension may be paid for any month in a payment quarter to every person who is not eligible for a full monthly pension under subsection (1) and

  • (a) has attained sixty-five years of age; and

  • (b) has resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age and prior to the day on which that person’s application is approved for an aggregate period of at least ten years but less than forty years and, where that aggregate period is less than twenty years, was resident in Canada on the day preceding the day on which that person’s application is approved.

• Marginal note:Amount of partial pension

  (3) Subject to subsection 7.1(3), the amount of a partial monthly pension, for any month, shall bear the same relation to the amount of the full monthly pension for that month as the aggregate period that the applicant has resided in Canada after attaining 18 years of age and before the day on which the application is approved, determined in accordance with subsection (4), bears to 40 years.

• Marginal note:Rounding of aggregate period

  (4) For the purpose of calculating the amount of a partial monthly pension under subsection (3), the aggregate period described in that subsection shall be rounded to the lower multiple of a year when it is not a multiple of a year.

• Marginal note:Additional residence irrelevant for partial pensioner

  (5) Once a person’s application for a partial monthly pension has been approved, the amount of monthly pension payable to that person under this Part may not be increased on the basis of subsequent periods of residence in Canada.

Marginal note:Residence in Canada must be or have been legal

• 4 (1) A person who was not a pensioner on July 1, 1977 is eligible for a pension under this Part only if

  • (a) on the day preceding the day on which that person’s application is approved that person is a Canadian citizen or, if not, is legally resident in Canada; or

  • (b) on the day preceding the day that person ceased to reside in Canada that person was a Canadian citizen or, if not, was legally resident in Canada.

• Marginal note:Regulations respecting legal residence

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the meaning of legal residence for the purposes of subsection (1).

Marginal note:Presumption

4.1 If the Minister intends to waive the requirement for an application in respect of a person under subsection 5(4) and the information available to the Minister under this Act with respect to that person includes the prescribed information, the person is presumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, to have met the requirements of

• (a) subparagraph 3(1)(b)(iii) or (c)(iii) or paragraph 3(2)(b); or

• (b) paragraph 4(1)(a) or (b).

Marginal note:Limitations

• 5 (1) No pension may be paid to any person unless that person is qualified under subsection 3(1) or (2), an application therefor has been made by or on behalf of that person and the application has been approved, and, except as provided in this Act, no pension may be paid to any person in respect of any period prior to the day on which that person’s application is approved.

• Marginal note:Application deemed to have been made and approved

  (2) Where an allowance ceases to be payable to a person by reason of that person having reached sixty-five years of age, the Minister may deem an application under subsection (1) to have been made by that person and approved, on the day on which the person reached that age.

• Marginal note:Incarcerated persons

  (3) No pension may be paid in respect of a period of incarceration — exclusive of the first month of that period — to a person who is subject to a sentence of imprisonment

  • (a) that is to be served in a penitentiary by virtue of any Act of Parliament; or

  • (b) that exceeds 90 days and is to be served in a prison, as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Prisons and Reformatories Act, if the government of the province in which the prison is located has entered into an agreement under section 41 of the Department of Employment and Social Development Act.

• Marginal note:Waiver of application

  (4) The Minister may, on the day on which a person attains 65 years of age, waive the requirement referred to in subsection (1) for an application if the Minister is satisfied, based on information that is available to him or her under this Act, that the person is qualified under subsection 3(1) or (2) for the payment of a pension.

• Marginal note:Notice of intent

  (5) If the Minister intends to waive the requirement for an application in respect of a person, the Minister shall notify the person in writing of that intention and provide them with the information on which the Minister intends to rely to approve the payment of a pension.

• Marginal note:Inaccuracies

  (6) The person shall, before the day on which they attain 65 years of age, file with the Minister a statement in which the person corrects any inaccuracies in the information provided by the Minister under subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Declining waiver

  (7) The person may, before the day on which they attain 65 years of age, decline a waiver of the requirement for an application by notifying the Minister in writing of their decision to do so.

• Marginal note:Cancellation of waiver

  (8) Even if the requirement for an application is intended to be waived in respect of a person under subsection (4), the Minister may, before the day on which the person attains 65 years of age, require that the person make an application for payment of a pension and, in that case, the Minister shall notify the person in writing of that requirement.

Marginal note:Withdrawal of application

• 5.1 (1) An applicant may withdraw an application for a pension by giving a written notice of their withdrawal to the Minister at any time before payment of the pension commences.

• Marginal note:Effect of withdrawal

  (2) If an application for a pension is withdrawn under subsection (1), the withdrawn application shall not after that time be used for the purpose of determining the applicant’s eligibility for a pension.

Information from Statistics Canada

Marginal note:Census statistics

6 Subject to the conditions specified in the regulations, the Minister is entitled, for the purpose of ascertaining the age of any pensioner or any applicant for a pension, to obtain from Statistics Canada, on request, any information respecting the age of a pensioner or applicant that is contained in the returns of any census taken more than thirty years before the date of the request.

Amount of Pension

Marginal note:Basic amount of full pension

• 7 (1) The amount of the full monthly pension that may be paid to any person for a month in the payment quarter commencing on January 1, 1985 is two hundred and seventy-three dollars and eighty cents.

• Marginal note:Quarterly adjustment of basic amount of full pension

  (2) Where a full monthly pension has been authorized to be paid to a person, the amount of the pension shall be adjusted quarterly, in such manner as may be prescribed by regulation, so that the amount that may be paid to that person for a month in any payment quarter commencing after March 31, 1985 is the amount obtained by multiplying

  • (a) the amount of the pension that might have been paid to that person for a month in the three month period immediately before that payment quarter

    by

  • (b) the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter bears to the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to that payment quarter.

• Marginal note:No decrease in amount of full pension

  (3) Notwithstanding subsection (2), the amount of a full monthly pension that may be paid to a pensioner for any month in a payment quarter shall be not less than the amount of the full monthly pension that was or may be paid to a pensioner for any month in the three month period immediately before that payment quarter.

• Marginal note:Effect of reduction in Consumer Price Index

  (4) Where, in relation to any payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter is lower than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter,

  • (a) no pension adjustment shall be made pursuant to subsection (2) in respect of that payment quarter; and

  • (b) no pension adjustment shall be made pursuant to that subsection in respect of any subsequent payment quarter until, in relation to a subsequent payment quarter, the Consumer Price Index for the first adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter is higher than the Consumer Price Index for the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in paragraph (a), in which case the second adjustment quarter that relates to the payment quarter referred to in that paragraph shall be deemed to be the second adjustment quarter that relates to that subsequent payment quarter.

• Marginal note:Full monthly pension — persons aged 75 years or older

  (5) Beginning in the payment quarter commencing on July 1, 2022, for the period that begins in the month after the month in which a person attains 75 years of age, the amount of the full monthly pension, as it is calculated in accordance with subsections (1) to (4), is increased by 10%.

Marginal note:Voluntary deferral — full monthly pension

• 7.1 (1) If a person applies for their pension after they become qualified to receive a full monthly pension, the amount of that pension, as it is calculated in accordance with subsections 7(1) to (4), is increased by 0.6% for each month in the period that begins in the month after the month in which the person becomes qualified for that pension and that ends in the month in which the person’s application is approved.

• Marginal note:Voluntary deferral — partial monthly pension

  (2) If a person applies for their pension after they become qualified to receive a partial monthly pension, the amount of that pension, as it is calculated in accordance with subsection 3(3) without regard to subsection 7(5), at the time that they become qualified for that pension, is increased by 0.6% for each month in the period that begins in the month after that time and that ends in the month in which the person’s application is approved.

• Marginal note:Greatest amount of pension

  (3) A person who is qualified to receive a monthly pension shall, unless they decide otherwise, receive the greatest of the following amounts:

  • (a) the amount of the full monthly pension as it is increased under subsection (1), if the person is qualified to receive a full monthly pension,

  • (b) the amount of the partial monthly pension as it is increased under subsection (2), and

  • (c) the amount of the partial monthly pension as it is calculated under subsection 3(3) at the time that the person’s application is approved.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (4) Despite subsections (1) and (2), the amount of a pension is not increased for any month

  • (a) before July 2013;

  • (b) after the month in which the person attains 70 years of age; or

  • (c) in which the person’s pension would not be paid by virtue of subsection 5(3), or would be suspended under subsection 9(1) or (3), if the person were a pensioner.

• Marginal note:Full monthly pension — persons aged 75 years or older

  (5) Beginning in the payment quarter commencing on July 1, 2022, for the period that begins in the month after the month in which a person attains 75 years of age, the amount of the full monthly pension, as it is increased under subsection (1), is increased by 10%.

• Marginal note:Partial monthly pension — persons aged 75 years or older

  (6) Beginning in the payment quarter commencing on July 1, 2022, for the period that begins in the month after the month in which a person attains 75 years of age, the amount of the partial monthly pension, as it is increased under subsection (2), is increased by 10%.