This Women’s History Month, the AJC is drawing attention to a pension issue that shows how caregiving can continue to affect women’s financial security long after they return to full-time work. 

In 2020, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in Fraser v. Canada that the design of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) pension plan discriminated against women enrolled in a job-sharing arrangement. This arrangement allowed them to continue working part-time while balancing their family caregiving responsibilities. While the pension plan allowed members to buy back periods of leave and have them treated as fully pensionable, women in the job-sharing program could not buy back their periods of part-time service. 

This design issue is a common factor across the pension plans for the federal public service, the RCMP and the Canadian Armed Forces. Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling for RCMP members six years ago, the employer has not addressed the issue in the legislation and regulations governing our pension plan. 

As we mark Women’s History Month, it is important to recognize that caring for family, while rewarding, can pose specific challenges for women. Women are significantly more likely to provide unpaid family care, to report negative impacts from caregiving, and to work in part-time or precarious employment in order to provide family caregiving. 

That should not mean their pensions are worth less because of their caregiving responsibilities.