Old Age Security Act — O-9 21
Payment of allowance to survivors 21 (1) Subject to this Act and the regulations, for each month in any payment period, an allowance may be paid to a survivor who (a) has attained sixty years of age but has not attained sixty-five years of age; and (b) 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. Residence in Canada must be or have been legal (2) A survivor is eligible for an allowance under this section only if (a) 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 (b) 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. Meaning of legal residence (3) The Governor in Council may make regulations respecting the meaning of legal residence for the purposes of subsection (2). Must apply annually (4) 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. Exception to application requirement (5) 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. Waiver of requirement for application (5.1) 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. Notice where subsequent application required (5.2) 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. Cancellation of waiver (5.3) 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. Commencement of allowance (6) 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. No allowance payable before September, 1985 (7) Notwithstanding subsections (6) and 23(2), no allowance may be paid under this section for any month prior to September, 1985. Limitations (7.1) 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), (a) no allowance may be paid under this section unless the survivor became a survivor on or after January 1, 1998; and (b) no allowa