Section 21 — Old Age Security Act: Payment of allowance to survivors

Subject to this Act and the regulations, for each month in any payment period, an allowance may be paid to a survivor who has attained sixty years of age but has not attained sixty-five years of age; and has resided in Canada after attaining eighteen years of age and prior to the day on which their application is approved for an aggregate period of at least ten years and, where that aggregate period is less than twenty years, was resident in Canada on the day preceding the day on which their application is approved. A survivor is eligible for an allowance under this section only if on the day preceding the day on which their application for an allowance is approved they are a Canadian citizen or, if not, are legally resident in Canada; or on the day preceding the day they ceased to reside in Canada they were a Canadian citizen or, if not, were legally resident in Canada. The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the meaning of legal residence for the purposes of subsection (2). Subject to subsections (5) and (5.1), no allowance may be paid to a survivor under this section in any payment period unless the survivor has made an application for an allowance in respect of that payment period and payment of the allowance has been approved under this Part. Where the spouses or the common-law partners had, before the death of the pensioner, made a joint application for the allowance under section 19 for months in the payment period of the pensioner’s death or the following payment period, no application is required to be made by the pensioner’s survivor under subsection (4) in respect of the payment of an allowance under this section for months in the payment period in respect of which the joint application was made. The Minister may waive the requirement referred to in subsection (4) for an application for payment of an allowance for any month or months in a payment period if an application for payment of an allowance has been made in respect of any payment period before that payment period. Where the requirement for an application for payment of an allowance for any month or months in a payment period has been waived under subsection (5.1) and an application is required for payment of an allowance 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 survivor in writing that an application is required. Notwithstanding that the requirement for an application for payment of an allowance for any month or months has been waived under subsection (5.1), the Minister may require that the survivor make such an application 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 survivor in writing that an application is required. An allowance may be paid under this section commencing with the month following the month in which the applicant becomes a survivor or attains sixty years of age, whichever is later. Notwithstanding subsections (6) and 23(2), no allowance may be paid under this section for any month prior to September, 1985. In the case of a survivor who was not a widow immediately before the coming into force of this subsection (“widow” having in this subsection the meaning that it had immediately before that coming into force), no allowance may be paid under this section unless the survivor became a survivor on or after January 1, 1998;

and no allowance may be paid under this section for any month before the month in which this subsection comes into force. An allowance under this section ceases to be payable on the expiration of the month in which the survivor in respect of whom it is paid dies, attains sixty-five years of age or ceases to be a survivor. No allowance may be paid under this section to a survivor pursuant to an application therefor for any month more than 11 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 throughout which the survivor is absent from Canada, having absented themself from Canada either before or after becoming entitled to an allowance under this Part and having remained out of Canada before that month for six consecutive months, exclusive of the month in which they left Canada; or any month during which the survivor is a person in respect of whom an undertaking by a sponsor is in effect as provided under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act ; or any period of incarceration — exclusive of the first month of that period — during which the survivor is subject to a sentence of imprisonment that is to be served in a penitentiary by virtue of any Act of Parliament, or 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 . Paragraph (9)(c) does not apply to a survivor who was qualified to receive an allowance immediately before the day on which this paragraph comes into force, whether or not they had applied for it; or if an event as provided by the regulations has occurred. Payment of an allowance suspended by virtue of paragraph (9)(d) shall resume in respect of the month in which the survivor is released but only if they have notified the Minister in writing before or after their release; and continue to be eligible for an allowance. The amount of the allowance that may be paid under this section to a survivor shall be determined in accordance with subsection 22(4). Where subsection (5) applies, subsection (10) also applies in respect of months in the payment period in respect of which the joint application was made and that are after the pensioner’s death. A person’s eligibility for an allowance under this section in respect of a deceased spouse or common-law partner is not affected by the eligibility of another person for an allowance under this section in respect of that deceased spouse or common-law partner.