Canadian Forces Superannuation Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. C-17)

Benefits Payable to Contributors

Marginal note:Immediate annuity

• 16 (1) A contributor who ceases to be a member of the regular force and who has to their credit two or more years of pensionable service is entitled to an immediate annuity if

  • (a) they have completed not less than 25 years of Canadian Forces service as prescribed by regulations made under paragraph 50(1)(m);

  • (b) they have reached 60 years of age;

  • (c) they have reached 55 years of age and have to their credit not less than 30 years of pensionable service;

  • (d) they are disabled and have to their credit not less than 10 years of pensionable service; or

  • (e) they cease, otherwise than voluntarily, to be a member of the regular force because of a reduction in the maximum number of officers or non-commissioned members of the regular force authorized by the Governor in Council under section 15 of the National Defence Act or they cease, otherwise than voluntarily, to be a member of the regular force in any circumstances specified by the Treasury Board, and

    • (i) they have reached 55 years of age and have to their credit not less than 10 years of pensionable service, or

    • (ii) they have to their credit not less than 20 years of pensionable service.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) Despite paragraph (1)(a), the Governor in Council may make regulations establishing, for officers, according to their rank, a number of years of Canadian Forces service greater than the minimum number of 25 years referred to in that paragraph and providing for that number to be reduced to 25 years over a maximum period of five years from the coming into force of this section, in the case of

  • (a) contributors who are members of the regular force on the coming into force of this section; and

  • (b) contributors who are entitled to an annuity on the coming into force of this section and who are subsequently re-enrolled in the regular force.

Marginal note:Deferred annuity

17 A contributor who ceases to be a member of the regular force, who has to their credit two or more years of pensionable service and who is not entitled to an immediate annuity, is entitled to a deferred annuity.

Marginal note:Annual allowance

• 18 (1) A contributor who is entitled to a deferred annuity may opt, in accordance with the regulations, for an annual allowance in place of the deferred annuity. The allowance is payable to the contributor

  • (a) immediately, if they are 50 or more years of age when they exercise their option; or

  • (b) on their reaching 50 years of age, if they are less than 50 years of age when they exercise their option.

• Marginal note:Amount of allowance

  (2) The amount of the annual allowance is equal to the amount of the deferred annuity, reduced by the product obtained by multiplying five per cent of the amount of that annuity by the number of years by which the contributor’s age in years, to the nearest one-tenth of a year, at the time the allowance is payable is less than 60.

• Marginal note:Alternative amount

  (3) If a contributor is 50 years or more of age when they cease to be a member of the regular force and has not less than 25 years of pensionable service to their credit, the amount of the annual allowance is the greater of

  • (a) the amount calculated under subsection (2), and

  • (b) the amount of the deferred annuity reduced by the product obtained by multiplying five per cent of the amount of that annuity by the greater of

    • (i) 55 minus the contributor’s age in years at the time they exercise their option, to the nearest one-tenth of a year, and

    • (ii) 30 minus the number of years of pensionable service to their credit, to the nearest one-tenth of a year.

• Marginal note:Adjustment

  (4) If a contributor who was receiving an annual allowance payable under subsection (1) re-enrols in the regular force, the amount of any annuity or annual allowance to which that contributor may become entitled under this Part on again ceasing to be a member of the regular force shall be adjusted in accordance with the regulations to take into account the amount of the annual allowance they have received.

Marginal note:Alternative annuity for certain members

• 19 (1) Subject to regulations made under subsection (2), a contributor who ceases to be a member of the regular force, having been a member continuously from the day immediately before the coming into force of this section until the day on which they ceased to be a member, is entitled, at their option, in place of any other benefit under this Part to which they would otherwise be entitled in respect of the pensionable service that they have to their credit, to an annuity, which may be adjusted in accordance with those regulations, payable from the day on which they cease to be a member of the regular force.

• Marginal note:Regulations

  (2) The Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing the circumstances in which a contributor may exercise an option under subsection (1), the manner of and time for exercising an option and the manner in which the amount of an annuity may be adjusted.

Marginal note:Return of contributions

20 A contributor who ceases to be a member of the regular force and who has to their credit less than two years of pensionable service is entitled to a return of contributions.

Marginal note:Benefit payable in case of disability after retirement

• 21 (1) A contributor who, not having reached 60 years of age but having become entitled under this Part to a deferred annuity or to an annual allowance, becomes entitled to a disability pension under the Canada Pension Plan or a provincial pension plan, ceases to be entitled to that deferred annuity or annual allowance, as the case may be, and becomes entitled to an immediate annuity.

• Marginal note:Adjustment

  (2) If a contributor ceases under subsection (1) to be entitled to an annual allowance, the immediate annuity shall be adjusted in accordance with the regulations to take into account the amount of the annual allowance that the contributor has received.

• Marginal note:Benefit where entitlement to disability pension ceases

  (3) A contributor who, not having reached 60 years of age but having become entitled under subsection (1) to an immediate annuity, has ceased to be entitled to a disability pension under the Canada Pension Plan or a provincial pension plan ceases to be entitled to that immediate annuity and becomes entitled to a deferred annuity or to the annual allowance to which they were originally entitled, as the case may be.

Marginal note:Transfer value

• 22 (1) Despite any other provision of this Act but subject to the regulations, a contributor who has ceased to be a member of the regular force, has to their credit two or more years of pensionable service and is not entitled to an immediate annuity is entitled, in place of any other benefit under this Act to which they would otherwise be entitled in respect of the pensionable service that they have to their credit, to a transfer value that is payable to the contributor in accordance with subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Where transferred

  (2) The payment of a transfer value to which a contributor may be entitled under subsection (1) is effected by transferring it to, at the direction of the contributor,

  • (a) a pension plan selected by the contributor that is registered under the Income Tax Act, if that pension plan so permits;

  • (b) a retirement savings plan or fund for the contributor that is of the kind prescribed by the regulations; or

  • (c) a financial institution authorized to sell immediate or deferred life annuities of the kind prescribed by the regulations, for the purchase from that financial institution of such an annuity for the contributor.

• Marginal note:Election to pay by instalments

  (3) If a contributor who is entitled to a transfer value has elected to pay for a period of pensionable service by means of instalments, the transfer value to be determined in accordance with the regulations shall be determined by reference to the portion of the period of pensionable service that the contributor has paid for at the time prescribed in the regulations.

Marginal note:Period to exercise option under former provisions

• 23 (1) A contributor who ceases to be a member of the regular force before the coming into force of this section and has not exercised their option in favour of a benefit under sections 16 to 22, as those sections read immediately before that coming into force, may, in accordance with the provisions of this Act as it read immediately before that coming into force, exercise that option at any time within one year after the day on which they cease to be a member.

• Marginal note:Failure to exercise option

  (2) If a contributor fails to exercise an option within the period set out in subsection (1), they are deemed to have exercised it in favour of a deferred annuity.

• Marginal note:Becoming a contributor under other Acts

  (3) If a contributor becomes a contributor under the Public Service Superannuation Act or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Superannuation Act without having exercised, or been deemed to have exercised, an option referred to in subsection (1), they are deemed to have exercised it immediately before becoming a contributor under whichever of those Acts is applicable in favour of a deferred annuity.

24 [Repealed, 2003, c. 26, s. 14]

Benefits Payable to Survivors, Children and Other Beneficiaries

Marginal note:Benefits payable on death of retired member

• 25 (1) On the death of a contributor who, at the time of their death, was entitled under this Part to an annuity or an annual allowance, the survivor and children of the contributor are entitled to the following allowances, computed on the basis of the product obtained by multiplying the average annual pay received by the contributor during the period specified in subparagraph 15(1)(a)(ii) by the number of years of pensionable service to the contributor’s credit, one one-hundredth of the product so obtained being referred to in this section as the “basic allowance”:

  • (a) in the case of a survivor, an immediate annual allowance equal to the basic allowance; and

  • (b) in the case of each child, an immediate annual allowance equal to one-fifth of the basic allowance or, if the contributor died without leaving a survivor, the survivor is dead or the survivor is not entitled to receive an allowance under this Part, other than an immediate annual allowance under section 25.1, two-fifths of the basic allowance.

• Marginal note:Total child allowance

  (2) The total amount of the allowances paid under paragraph (1)(b) shall not exceed four-fifths of the basic allowance or, if the contributor died without leaving a survivor, the survivor is dead or the survivor is not entitled to receive an allowance under this Part, other than an immediate annual allowance under section 25.1, eight-fifths of the basic allowance.

• Marginal note:Apportionment of total among children

  (3) If, in computing the allowances to which the children of a contributor are entitled under subsections (1) and (2), it is determined that there are more than four children of the contributor entitled to an allowance, the total amount of the allowances shall be apportioned among the children in such shares as the Minister considers just and proper under the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Benefits payable on death of serving member — more than two years

  (4) On the death of a contributor who has to their credit two or more years of pensionable service and was a member of the regular force at the time of death, the survivor and children of the contributor are entitled to the annual allowances to which they would have been entitled under subsections (1), (2) and (3) had the contributor, immediately before death, become entitled under this Part to an annuity or an annual allowance.

• Definition of child

  (5) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (4), child means a child of the contributor who

  • (a) is less than eighteen years of age; or

  • (b) is eighteen or more years of age but less than twenty-five years of age, and is in full-time attendance at a school or university as defined in the regulations.

• Marginal note:Benefits payable on death of serving member — less than two years

  (6) On the death of a contributor who has to their credit less than two years of pensionable service and was a member of the regular force at the time of death, the survivor and children of the contributor, in any case where the contributor died leaving a survivor or a child less than eighteen years of age, are entitled jointly to a death benefit equal to the greater of

  • (a) a return of contributions, and

  • (b) an amount equal to one month’s pay for each year of pensionable service to the credit of the contributor, computed on the basis of the rate of pay authorized to be paid to them at the time of their death.