The CBC/Radio-Canada French TV program, La Facture, covering consumer issues, has produced a report on the case of spouses who are not eligible for a survivor pension due to federal legislation on pension benefits.
Two criteria are used to exclude those spouses :
1- The marriage or common-law union began when the pensioner was over 60 years of age. Applied in the pension plans of the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP.
2- The union happened after the date of retirement. Applied in the pension plans of the Public Service, the Crown Corporations, and the private sector under federal jurisdiction.
To Illustrate the two exclusion criteria, the report presents the testimonies of two retirees and their spouses: Mr. Robert Demers from RCMP and Mr. Pierre Sasseville from Canada Post. A trade-union point of view is given by Ms. Magali Picard, former national vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada. And the legal aspect is discussed with Mr. Louis-Philippe Lampron, Professor at Laval University Law School.
To view the report on survivor pension: https://ici.tou.tv/la-facture/S26E10?lectureauto=1
There are many CBC retirees whose marital union happened after their retirement date and their spouse is not eligible for a survivor pension. And among surviving spouses, some have already been denied a pension.
It is a fairness issue. The CBC-PNA has long fought for a change to these unfair laws on pension and continues to fight as a partner of the Surviving Spouses Pension Fairness Coalition (www.pensionfairness-sspfc.ca).