Langley, BC —Mark Warawa, Member of Parliament for Langley, spoke out on a new bill that will amend the Old Age Security Act to terminate payment of Old Age Security (OAS) benefits to federal prisoners.  “It’s great to see that this government is putting victims and taxpayers first, ahead of criminals.”

“Our government is following through on our commitment to treat taxpayers fairly. We are ensuring that public funds are put to good use,” said Warawa. “Canada’s taxpayers should not be funding OAS benefits for prisoners as well as the costs of incarceration, which already cover their basic living needs.”

Dr.Darryl Plecas, University of Fraser Valley Criminology Professor and RCMP Research Chair says the legislation makes complete sense. “In short, it will ensure that Canadians are not providing financial assistance to individuals whose needs are already being provided for by the federal government. It will ensure that Canadians are not, in effect, double-paying. Kudos to the federal government for responding so quickly and decisively, once the practice of Old Age Security benefits to inmates came to light" says Plecas.

Warawa and Dr. Plecas are both members of Community Leaders for Justice Reform, a regional group of police, emergency and protective services and political leaders from all levels of government whose role is to look into prospective reforms to Canada’s justice system.

The bill was tabled June 1, 2010, in the House of Commons by the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development.

In Canada’s Jobs and Growth Budget, the Government stressed that it is committed to treating taxpayers fairly. The OAS program is funded through general tax revenues and is designed to help seniors meet their immediate, basic needs and maintain a minimum standard of living in retirement. Since a prisoner’s basic needs, such as food and shelter, are already met and paid by public funds, there is no reason for Canadian taxpayers to also fund income support for prisoners through OAS benefits.   Implementation will begin with prisoners who are incarcerated in federal penitentiaries for two years or more.


BACKGROUND

In March 2010, the issue of inmates receiving Old Age Security (OAS) benefits gained the attention of the media and victim advocates as news outlets reported that incarcerated serial killer Clifford Olson was receiving an OAS pension and the GIS. The Government committed to looking into options to suspend the payments of OAS benefits to inmates.

Currently, the OAS Act does not contain any specific provisions regarding the payment of OAS benefits to inmates. Prior to 1979, the OAS Act had a provision which allowed the suspension of OAS benefit payments when a pensioner was sentenced to a term of incarceration exceeding 90 days. In October 1979, the provision was repealed in order to facilitate elderly inmates’ reintegration into society and to ensure that the incarcerated pensioner’s spouse would not be disadvantaged by automatically losing entitlement to the Allowances.

The proposed amendments to the OAS Act protect the low-income spouse/common-law partner’s access to GIS and the Allowances.

In the first stage, following Royal Assent, the amendments to the OAS Act will be implemented at the federal level. In the second stage, Information Sharing Agreements (ISA's) will be negotiated with the provinces and territories, pursuant to the authorities in the OAS Act (Part IV), before legislative changes applicable to provincial and territorial inmates can be implemented. Once an ISA is in place, the suspension of benefit payments will be extended to a person who has been sentenced to a term exceeding 90 days in a prison.

The proposed amendments will suspend OAS benefit payments commencing with the month following their incarceration. The proposed amendments will reinstate the individual’s OAS benefit payments the month the individual is released, and will only be subject to a further suspension of OAS benefits, where, for example, the parole or statutory release has been revoked.