Defence Services Pension Continuation Act (R.S.C. 1970, c. D-3)

Marginal note:Gratuity in case of reduction of staff

11 Where an officer is removed or retired to promote efficiency or economy in the service, the Minister may, on the recommendation of a board constituted as aforesaid, grant him such gratuity as he would have been entitled to if he had been retired in consequence of permanent infirmity of body or mind.

Pensions to Non-commissioned Officers and Men

Marginal note:Militiaman’s pension service

• 12 (1) Subject to this Act, every militiaman is entitled to retire and receive a pension for life who

  • (a) has completed not less than twenty years service, or

  • (b) has completed not less than fifteen years service, and is incapacitated for the performance of his duty by infirmity of mind or body.

• Marginal note:Return to service

  (2) Every militiaman who receives a pension under this section before he has completed twenty years service is subject to return to service, as provided by this Act if he ceases to be incapacitated.

Marginal note:Computation

• 13 (1) The pension to a militiaman on retirement shall be,

  • (a) if he has completed fifteen but less than twenty years service, an annual sum equal to one-fiftieth of the annual pay and allowances of which he was in receipt on retirement for every year of service;

  • (b) if he has completed twenty but less than twenty-five years service, an annual sum equal to twenty-fiftieths of the annual pay and allowances of which he was in receipt on retirement with an addition of two-fiftieths of the pay and allowances for every year of service over twenty years; or

  • (c) if he has completed twenty-five years service, an annual sum equal to thirty-fiftieths of the annual pay and allowances of which he was in receipt on retirement with an addition of one-fiftieth of the annual pay and allowances for every year of service over twenty-five years, but the annual pension shall not exceed two-thirds of his annual pay and allowances at his retirement.

• Marginal note:Time served in regular forces

  (2) Time served in His Majesty’s regular forces may be counted toward pension in the case of non-commissioned officers and men transferred to the permanent force in connection with the taking over by the Government of Canada of the garrisons of Halifax and Esquimalt; and in the case of such non-commissioned officers and men as have been or may hereafter be transferred from His Majesty’s regular forces to the permanent force under arrangements made between His Majesty’s Government and His Majesty’s Canadian Government as to the pensioning of such non-commissioned officers and men.

• Marginal note:Militiaman’s service reckoned

  (3) The following times may also be included in the term of service of a militiaman for the purposes of this Act:

  • (a) time served in the employment of the Government of Canada in connection with the militia stores of Canada prior to the organization of the Ordnance Stores Corps;

  • (b) time served when on active service during the war between Great Britain and Germany that commenced on the 4th day of August 1914;

  • (c) time served in the Royal Canadian Navy and the Permanent Active Air Force of Canada;

  • (d) time served on active service in the naval, army or air forces of His Majesty raised in Canada during time of war; and

  • (e) time served on active service during time of war in any of the naval, army or air forces of His Majesty other than those raised in Canada by any person who, having served on active service in any of the forces of His Majesty during the war that commenced on the 10th day of September 1939, was appointed to or enlisted in the forces on or before the 31st day of March 1946.

Marginal note:Estimating pensions

14 For the purposes of estimating a pension to a militiaman,

• (a) if the service has not been continuous, the period or periods during which such service has been discontinued shall not be counted; and

• (b) the annual pay of a militiaman at the date of retirement shall be deemed to be the average annual amount of pay, exclusive of extra pay or allowances, received by him during the three years last preceding such retirement, and not the annual amount actually received by him at that date.

Marginal note:Certificate from board

15 No pension shall be granted to any militiaman unless a board composed of three officers, the rank of one of whom shall be not lower than that of major, has certified to his length of service and conduct, and that evidence has been adduced before it which justifies the granting of a pension under this Act.

Marginal note:Militiaman required to retire

16 When any militiaman has completed a service of twenty years, the Defence Council, upon the recommendation of such a board, may require him to retire upon the terms as to pensions prescribed by this Act.

Marginal note:Certificate of medical board

• 17 (1) Before a pension is granted to a militiaman who, after having served for less than twenty years, retires on the ground of his being incapacitated by infirmity of mind or body for the discharge of his duty, a medical board constituted in accordance with regulations made under the National Defence Act shall certify that such militiaman is so incapacitated and that the incapacity is likely to be permanent.

• Marginal note:Evidence required

  (2) Such militiaman shall thereafter when required and until the power under this Act of requiring the militiaman to serve again ceases, furnish satisfactory evidence, certified by a legally qualified medical practitioner, that such incapacity continues.

Marginal note:Incapacity ceasing

• 18 (1) In the event of such incapacity ceasing before the expiration of such time as would, together with the period of service prior to his retirement, make up a period of twenty years, the militiaman is liable to serve again in the force.

• Marginal note:Forfeiture of pension

  (2) Where before the expiration of the said time he declines so to serve or when serving again he neglects while he is in a competent state of health to perform his duty satisfactorily, he shall forfeit his pension.

Marginal note:Retirement after renewed service

19 A militiaman so serving again is entitled to retire at the same time as he would have been entitled to retire if the time that elapsed between his retirement and the renewal of his service were service, but the time so elapsed shall not be reckoned as service in calculating his pension on his final retirement.

Marginal note:Failure or refusal to be examined

• 20 (1) Where a militiaman fails or refuses, when required, to be examined by a legally qualified medical practitioner, the Minister has the same power of requiring such militiaman to serve again as he would have under this section, if satisfied by the evidence of a legally qualified medical practitioner that the incapacity of such militiaman had ceased.

• Marginal note:Forfeiture of pension

  (2) In such case the Minister may with the approval of the Governor in Council declare forfeited the pension of such militiaman.

Marginal note:Infirmity contributed to by militiaman

21 When a pension is granted to a militiaman on account of infirmity of mind or body, and such infirmity is certified by a medical board constituted as aforesaid, to have been brought about or contributed to by his own fault, or by his vicious habits, and such militiaman is entitled under this Act to a pension of a fixed amount, the Governor in Council may grant to him a less amount of pension than the amount to which he would otherwise have been entitled.

22 [Repealed, 1992, c. 46, s. 82]

Offences and Penalties

Marginal note:Obtaining pension by fraud

23 Every militiaman who obtains a pension under this Act by any false representation or false evidence, or by personation, or by malingering or feigning disease or infirmity, or by maiming or injuring himself, or causing himself to be maimed or injured, or otherwise producing disease or infirmity, or by any other fraudulent conduct, is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment, with or without hard labour, for a period not exceeding twelve months, or to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, and shall forfeit the pension obtained.

Marginal note:Summary conviction

24 Prosecutions under section 23 may be had under the provisions of the Criminal Code relating to summary convictions.

Provision for Officers’ Survivors and Children

Marginal note:Pension to survivors and compassionate allowance to children

• 25 (1) Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, the Minister may, as to him or her seems fit, grant a pension to the survivor and a compassionate allowance to each of the children of any officer who, at the time of death being on full pay, dies after a period at which a pension might be granted him, or who was, at the time of his death, in receipt of a pension.

• Marginal note:If two survivors

  (2) If the Minister grants a pension to two survivors, the total amount of the pension shall be apportioned between the two survivors in accordance with subsection 32(3).

Marginal note:Where not granted

26 Such pension or compassionate allowance shall not be granted

• (a) and (b) [Repealed, 1992, c. 46, s. 83]

• (c) if the deceased officer had been excused, at his own request, from serving, though capable of service, when called upon and required to serve, after having been officially warned that his family would thereby lose all claims to pension and compassionate allowance;

• (d) if the survivor began to cohabit with the officer in a relationship of a conjugal nature, or married, the officer after the officer retired;

• (e) if, at the time the survivor began to cohabit with the officer in a relationship of a conjugal nature, or married the officer, the officer had attained the age of sixty years; or

• (f) [Repealed, 1992, c. 46, s. 83]

• (g) if the officer died within one year after his marriage, unless he was manifestly in good health at the time of his marriage, and his death was caused by disease or injury not due to causes within his own control, and the Minister is satisfied that there are no other objections to the granting of the pension or compassionate allowance.

Marginal note:Election for officers

• 26.1 (1) If the person to whom an officer is married or with whom the officer is cohabiting in a relationship of a conjugal nature, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year, could not be granted, by reason of paragraph 26(d) or (e), a pension under section 25 in the event of the officer’s death, the officer may elect, in accordance with the regulations, to reduce the amount of the officer’s pension in order that a pension could be granted to the person under subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Payment

  (2) The Minister shall grant a pension to the person referred to in subsection (1) in an amount determined in accordance with the election and the regulations, if

  • (a) the person was married to the officer at the time of the officer’s death, or was cohabiting with the officer in a relationship of a conjugal nature for a period of at least one year immediately before the officer’s death; and

  • (b) the election is not revoked or deemed to have been revoked.

• Marginal note:No entitlement

  (3) A person who is entitled to receive a pension under section 32 after the officer’s death is not entitled to a pension under subsection (2) in respect of that officer.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (4) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting

  • (a) the time, manner and circumstances in which an election may be made, revoked or deemed to have been revoked;

  • (b) the reduction to be made in the amount of an officer’s pension when an election is made;

  • (c) the amount of the pension granted under subsection (2); and

  • (d) any other matter that the Governor in Council considers necessary for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this section.

Marginal note:Pension one-half of officer’s pension

27 The pension of a person who was married to an officer shall, if the officer was at the time of his death on full pay, be an amount equal to one-half of the pension to which he would have been entitled if he had been retired compulsorily immediately before his death, or, if at the time of his death he had been pensioned, an amount equal to one-half of the pension.

Marginal note:Compassionate allowance

• 28 (1) The compassionate allowance to a child shall be as follows: the child of a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, eighty dollars; of a major, seventy dollars; of a captain, sixty-five dollars; of a lieutenant or second lieutenant, fifty dollars; of a warrant officer, twenty-five dollars.

• Marginal note:If no pension to survivor

  (2) If no pension is payable to a survivor under this Act, the allowance shall be double that fixed by subsection (1).

Marginal note:Amount to family limited

29 The total amount paid to the survivor and children of an officer during any year shall not exceed the amount of the pension that the officer was in receipt of, or to which he would have been entitled, as the case may be.

• 30 (1) [Repealed, 1992, c. 46, s. 85]

• (2) [Repealed, 1989, c. 6, s. 12]

• (3) [Repealed, 1992, c. 46, s. 85]

Marginal note:Officers’ children

31 The compassionate allowance to officers’ children shall not be granted to a child over the age of twenty-one, and the allowance shall cease when the child reaches the age of twenty-one.