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Loading ...Deadline looms for Canadian same-sex partners to collect survivor benefits
09.30.2008 4:19pm EDT
(Vancouver, British Columbia) Today marks the final day same-sex partners can claim retroactive payments of Canada Pension Plan survivor benefits.
In March of last year, the Supreme Court of Canada tossed out a federal law that denied benefits to same-sex spouses whose partners contributed to CPP.But the high court limited collection time for retroactive payments and that deadline expires Sept. 30.
A claimants’ estimated benefits could amount to about $500 a month and partners of eligible applicants must have died after April 17, 1985 and before Jan. 1, 1998.
Egale Canada, a national organization seeking justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans-gendered people, says anyone who fails to apply by the deadline will no longer be able to collect the full amount of back payments.
The group says the money can be claimed by filling out an application and submitting it to Service Canada at www.servicecanada.gc.ca.
