Section 11 — Old Age Security Act: Supplement payable

Subject to this Part and the regulations, for each month in any payment period, a monthly guaranteed income supplement may be paid to a pensioner. Subject to subsections (3.1) and (4), no supplement may be paid to a pensioner for a month in any payment period unless an application for payment of a supplement has been made by the pensioner and payment of the supplement for months in that year has been approved under this Part. 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 (2) to have been made by that person and approved, on the day on which the person reached that age. The Minister may, in respect of a person, waive the requirement referred to in subsection (2) for an application for payment of a supplement for any month or months in a payment period if, on the day on which the person attains 65 years of age, the Minister is satisfied, based on information available to him or her under this Act, that the person is qualified under this section for the payment of a supplement. If the Minister intends to waive the requirement for an application in respect of a person under subsection (3.1), 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 supplement. 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 (3.2). 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. Even if the requirement for an application is intended to be waived in respect of a person under subsection (3.1), 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 supplement and, in that case, the Minister shall notify the person in writing of that requirement. The Minister may waive the requirement referred to in subsection (2) for an application for payment of a supplement for any month or months in a payment period if an application for payment of a supplement has been made in respect of any payment period before that payment period. Where the requirement for an application for payment of a supplement for any month or months in a payment period has been waived under subsection (4) and an application is required for payment of a supplement for any subsequent month or months in that payment period, the Minister shall, not later than fifteen days before that subsequent month or the first of those subsequent months, notify the pensioner in writing that an application is required. Notwithstanding that the requirement for an application for payment of a supplement for any month or months has been waived under subsection (4), the Minister may require that the pensioner make an application for payment of a supplement for that month or for any of those months, and in such a case, the Minister shall, not later than fifteen days before that month or the first of those months, notify the pensioner in writing that an application is required. No supplement may be paid to a pensioner for any month that is more than eleven months before the month in which the application is received or is deemed to have been made or in which the requirement for an application has been waived, as the case may be; any month for which no pension may be paid to the pensioner; any month throughout which the pensioner is absent from Canada having commenced to be absent from Canada either before or after becoming a pensioner and having remained outside Canada before that month for six consecutive months, exclusive of the month in which the pensioner left Canada; any month throughout which the pensioner is not resident in Canada, having ceased to reside in Canada, either before or after becoming a pensioner, six months before the beginning of that month; or any month during which the pensioner is a person in respect of whom an undertaking by a sponsor is in effect as provided under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act . Paragraph (7)(e) does not apply to a person who was qualified to receive a pension or an allowance immediately before the day on which this paragraph comes into force, whether or not they had applied for it; or to a pensioner if an event as provided by the regulations has occurred.