We understand that these might be stressful times for our members and their families. We would like to assure you that your pension plan’s capacity to serve you remains the same.

Administration offices are closed to in-person visits, but they are working hard to ensure your needs continue to be met while keeping their colleagues and communities safe.

We are committed to:

• Ensuring retirees continue to receive their monthly pension payments as scheduled;
• Providing responses to member enquiries within reasonable timeframes;
• Safeguarding the security of your monthly pension benefits with professional investment and risk management;
• Ensuring data and payments from contributing employers continue to be received and processed.

To assist us in meeting these goals some service changes were put in place. Here is what you should know:

Retirees and beneficiaries are strongly encouraged to move to direct deposit.
If you are currently receiving your payments by cheque, you should update your payment method to direct deposit as soon as possible. Certain financial institutions have advised us that they may no longer be issuing cheques in the future. Additionally, this eliminates the risk of cheque delivery delays.

Please send completed forms and paperwork by email.
To avoid processing delays and support the safety of the pension administration staff, please send completed paperwork by email at this time. Originals can be mailed at a later date. Scanned copies of the original documents are recommended, but photos of the original documents will also be accepted. Please take the necessary measures to ensure that emails that are sent are secure.

We will also use emails to share important pension-related news. If you have not yet done so, please provide your divisional administrator with your personal email address and sign up for the newsletter. 

Your pension statements, booklets, and other pension documents might take longer to be mailed.
To take into account the challenges in preparing and mailing documents with the social distancing requirements, including potential delays with Canada Post, certain provincial and federal pension authorities have extended various deadlines. This means you may receive your annual pension statement later in the year, or that it may take a little longer for you to receive your requested pension documentation. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Plan members may be eligible for pension credits during a period of disability.
Plan members who are on a period of disability may be eligible for pension credits. Contact your pension administrator for more information. Please note that if you have been temporarily laid off work, you are not eligible for pension credits during this time. However, you will remain a member of the plan until you have met the termination rules. Please refer to your plan booklet for more details.

Portability of pension benefits may be temporarily impacted.
Due to regulatory intervention or governance requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic, portability (or lump-sum) transfers may be delayed or temporarily impacted.
The measures are intended to protect the benefits of all plan members and beneficiaries.

This situation is continuously evolving, and we will need to continuously adapt. We will provide you with relevant updates as they are available.