Merchant Seamen Compensation Act

Marginal note:Amounts of compensation

• 31 (1) Where the death of a seaman results from an injury, the following amounts of compensation shall be paid:

  • (a) the necessary expenses of burial of the seaman not exceeding seven hundred and forty-two dollars;

  • (b) in addition to the sum mentioned in paragraph (a), a sum not exceeding one hundred and twenty-five dollars for necessary expenses for transportation and things supplied and services rendered in connection therewith necessitated by the transfer of the body of a seaman from the place of death to the place of interment;

  • (c) if the expenses of burial of a seaman are paid by an employer under section 93 of the Canada Shipping Act, 2001 following any accident in respect of which compensation is payable under this Act, the amount of the expenses shall be deducted from the amount payable under paragraphs (a) and (b);

  • (d) where the survivor is the sole dependant, a monthly payment of $1,451.92;

  • (e) where the dependants are a survivor and one or more children, a monthly payment of $1,451.92 with an additional monthly payment of $161.18 to be increased on the death of the survivor to $164.93

    • (i) for each child under the age of eighteen years, and

    • (ii) with the Minister’s approval, for each child under the age of 21 years who is attending school;

  • (f) where the dependants are children only, a monthly payment of one hundred and fifteen dollars

    • (i) to each child under the age of eighteen years, and

    • (ii) with the Minister’s approval, to each child under the age of 21 years who is attending school; and

  • (g) if the dependants are persons other than those mentioned in paragraphs (d) to (f), a reasonable sum that is proportionate to the pecuniary loss to those dependants occasioned by the death, to be determined by the Minister.

• Marginal note:If no survivor

  (2) If a seaman leaves no survivor or the survivor subsequently dies, and a competent authority has appointed a person to care for the children who are entitled to compensation, the Minister may pay that person the same monthly payments of compensation as if that person were the survivor of the deceased, and in that case the children’s part of the payments shall be in lieu of the monthly payments that they would otherwise have been entitled to receive.

• Marginal note:Additional sum

  (3) In addition to any other compensation provided for under this section, the survivor or, where the seaman leaves no survivor, the foster-parent, as described in subsection (2), is entitled to a lump sum of $16,868.50.

• Marginal note:Duration of payments

  (4) In the case provided for by paragraph (1)(g), the payments shall continue only so long as, in the Minister’s opinion, it might reasonably have been expected that the seaman, had they lived, would have continued to contribute to the support of the dependants, and, in any case under that paragraph, compensation may be made wholly or partly in a lump sum or by any form of payment that the Minister considers most suitable in the circumstances.

• Marginal note:Dependant to whom seaman stood in place of parent

  (5) A dependant to whom the seaman stood in the place of a parent or a dependant who stood in the place of a parent to the seaman is entitled, as the Minister may determine, to share in or receive compensation under paragraph (1)(e), (f) or (g).

• Marginal note:Disabled child

  (6) Compensation is payable to a disabled child without regard to their age, and payments to the child shall continue until, in the Minister’s opinion, the child ceases to be disabled.

• Marginal note:Total and partial dependants

  (7) Where there are both total and partial dependants, the compensation may be allotted partly to the total and partly to the partial dependants.

• Marginal note:Payments to other persons

  (8) If the Minister is of the opinion that it is desirable that a payment in respect of a child should not be made directly to their parent, the Minister may direct that the payment be made to any person or be applied in any manner that he or she considers most advantageous for the child.

• Marginal note:Maximum compensation

  (9) Exclusive of the expenses of burial of the seaman and the lump sum of eight hundred and thirty-three dollars referred to in subsection (3), the compensation payable as provided by subsection (1) shall not in any case exceed seventy-five per cent of the average earnings of the seaman mentioned in section 36, and if the compensation payable under subsection (1) would in any case exceed that percentage, it shall be reduced accordingly, and where several persons are entitled to monthly payments the payments shall be reduced proportionately, but the minimum compensation shall be

  • (a) where the survivor is the sole dependant, a monthly payment of $1,451.92, or if the seaman’s average earnings are less than $1,451.92 per month, the amount of those earnings; and

  • (b) where the dependants are a survivor and one or more children, a monthly payment of $1,613.10 for the survivor and one child irrespective of the amount of the seaman’s earnings, with a further monthly payment of $161.18 for each additional child unless the total monthly compensation exceeds the seaman’s average earnings, in which case the compensation shall be a sum equal to those earnings or $1,613.10, whichever is the greater, the share for each child entitled to compensation being reduced proportionately.