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Pensions make history in Canadian Museum
Vancouver, British Columbia, September 12, 2002
? The Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC) and Human
Resources Development Canada (HRDC) today launched a new
Web site on the history of public Pensions and their
role in the evolution of Canada?s social security
system.
Dr. Victor Rabinovitch, President and CEO of the
Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation and Mr. Paul
Migus, Assistant Deputy Minister, Income Security
Programs, on behalf of Human Resources Development
Canada, launched the History of Canada?s Public Pensions
Web site at the International Social Security
Association Conference in Vancouver.
?One dimension of Canada?s history is the development of
social programs, which have helped build this country?s
growth and stability,? said Dr. Rabinovitch. ?The
permanent exhibition on history in the Museum?s Canada
Hall is already our most visited site, but it will now
be expanded with information on a vital aspect of social
and community traditions with this innovative Web site
project.?
?Public Pensions are central to Canada?s social fabric
and basic to our quality of life today,? added the
Honourable Herb Dhaliwal, Minister of Natural Resources
Canada, on behalf of the Honourable Jane Stewart,
Minister of Human Resources Development Canada. ?Those
first Pensions, offered 75 years ago, were an important
milestone in Canada?s history. The Government of Canada
is pleased to be involved in this noteworthy project,
which traces the evolution of our country?s social
safety net from its humble beginnings to today?s
internationally respected universal system.?
The Web module on the history of Pensions, a new
addition to the Museum?s Social Progress Web Gallery,
was developed to help mark the 75th anniversary of
Canada?s public Pensions. The Social Progress Web
Gallery is a valuable resource that tells the story of
the development of the country?s social benefits, rights
and freedoms from the mid-nineteenth century to today.
Its home is within the Museum?s popular Canada Hall.
Online users will discover that:
- In 1927 the government of William Lyon Mackenzie
King created Canada?s first public pension
programme, the Old Age Pension. Its introduction
owed a great deal to pressure from Labour MPs J. S.
Woodsworth and A. A. Heaps. It provided a maximum of
$20 per month and was subject to a means test.
- The Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension
Plan were introduced in 1966 under Prime Minister
Lester B. Pearson.
- It is easier to amend Canada?s Constitution than
to amend the Canada Pension Plan.
- In 1988, Aboriginal people earning income on
reserves were allowed to contribute to the Canada
Pension Plan and receive benefits from it for the
first time.
- The proportion of seniors in Canada with low
incomes has fallen sharply during recent decades
(from 20.8 per cent in 1980 to 8.2 per cent in
1999.)
The Web module explores such themes as: old age and
poverty in nineteenth-century Canada, the first old age
pension, the impact of the Great Depression and the
Second World War on the financial security of the aged,
the introduction of Old Age Security (1952) and the
Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan (1966), and
more recent improvements to Canada?s retirement income
system.
The CMC?s Social Progress Web Gallery, which already
covers Canadian labour and electoral history, can be
consulted anywhere in the world at
http://www.civilization.ca/hist/progrese.html
Media Information:
Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7167
Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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History
of Pensions 
