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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