Bill C-264

1st Session, 39th Parliament,

55 Elizabeth II, 2006

house of commons of canada

BILL C-264

An Act respecting education benefits for spouses and children of certain deceased federal enforcement officers

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

SHORT TITLE

1. This Act may be cited as the Education Benefits Act.

INTERPRETATION

2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act.

“child” means a child of a federal enforcement officer, including a natural child, stepchild or adopted child.

“educational institution” means a technical or vocational school, university, college or other school of higher education in Canada that provides training or instruction of an educational, professional, vocational or technical nature and is approved by the Minister for the education or instruction of students pursuant to this Act.

“education benefits” means an allowance or costs paid to or in respect of students to enable them to continue their education or instruction at an educational institution.

“federal enforcement officer” means

(a) a member of the Correctional Service of Canada who is designated as a peace officer pursuant to section 10 of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, or a person employed by the federal government who is a warden, deputy warden, instructor, keeper, jailer, guard or any other officer or permanent employee of a prison other than a penitentiary as defined in Part I of that Act;

(b) a person employed by the federal government who is a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a police constable, a bailiff, a constable or any other person employed by the federal government or a Crown corporation within the meaning of section 83 of the Financial Administration Act for the preservation and maintenance of the public peace or for the service or execution of civil process;

(c) an officer or a person having the powers of a customs or excise officer when performing any duty or function in the enforcement of the Customs Act, the Excise Act or the Excise Act, 2001;

(d) a person designated as a fishery guardian under the Fisheries Act when performing any duty or function in the enforcement of that Act or a person designated as a fishery officer under the Fisheries Act when performing any duty or function in the enforcement of that Act or the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act;

(e) an officer or employee of the Parks Canada Agency, established by the Parks Canada Agency Act, an employee of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, established by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act, or an officer designated under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, when performing any duty or function in the enforcement of their respective Act; or

(f) an officer or non-commissioned member of the Canadian Forces.

“Minister” means the member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada who is designated by the Governor in Council as the Minister for the purposes of this Act.

“peace officer” has the same meaning as in section 2 of the Criminal Code.

“spouse” means a person who is

(a) married to a federal enforcement officer; or

(b) cohabiting with a federal enforcement officer in a conjugal relationship, having so cohabited for a period of at least one year.

“student” means a person who is a spouse or child of a federal enforcement officer who has died from an injury received or an illness contracted in the discharge of their duty.

EDUCATION BENEFITS

3. This Act applies only to the surviving spouse and children of a federal enforcement officer who has died from an injury received or an illness contracted in the discharge of their duty on or after the day this Act comes into force.

4. No education benefits shall be paid under this Act to or in respect of any person other than the surviving spouse and children of the federal enforcement officer on account of whose death the education benefits are claimed.

5. The Minister may, in accordance with this Act and the regulations and out of money appropriated for that purpose by Parliament,

(a) provide allowances to or in respect of students to enable them to continue their education or instruction at an educational institution; and

(b) pay in whole or in part the cost of such education or instruction.

6. (1) The amount of the monthly allowance that may be paid to or in respect of a student during the period in which the student pursues a program of study at an educational institution shall be,

(a) for a full-time program of study in the case of a child, equal to the monthly rate of pension for one orphan child provided in Schedule II to the Pension Act; and

(b) for a full-time or part-time program of study in the case of a spouse, equal to the monthly rate of pension for a survivor provided in Schedule II to the Pension Act.

(2) The total period for which education benefits may be paid to or in respect of a student under this Act shall not exceed

(a) in the case of a child, four academic years or thirty-six months, whichever is the lesser; and

(b) in the case of a spouse, the period of time required by the spouse to complete a program of study, either full-time or part-time, that is considered by the educational institution to be equivalent to or be, in terms of years, an undergraduate or a graduate program of study at a university.

(3) The costs of education or instruction that may be paid in respect of a student under this Act shall include such tuition and other fees and costs as may be prescribed by regulation.

(4) The Minister may extend the total period for which education benefits may be paid to or in respect of a student under this Act if the Minister is of the opinion that the student’s progress and achievements in their program of study or their personal circumstances are such that it would be in the interest both of the student and of the public that the payments under section 5 be continued during a further period.

7. (1) No education benefits shall be paid under this Act to or in respect of a child who has attained the age set out below, except as may be necessary to enable the child to complete the academic year in which the child attains that age:

(a) twenty-five years; or

(b) thirty years where, pursuant to sub-section 6(4), the Minister has extended the total period for which education benefits may be paid beyond the year in which the student attains the age of twenty-five years.

(2) For greater certainty, no age restriction exists in respect of the education benefits that may be paid to or in respect of a spouse under this Act.

8. (1) No education benefits shall be paid under this Act to or in respect of a child for

(a) a program of study that is considered by the educational institution to be equivalent to or be a graduate program of study at a university; or

(b) a program of study that is considered by the educational institution to be part of a graduate program of study at a university.

(2) No education benefits shall be paid under this Act to or in respect of a spouse for more than one program of study that is considered by the educational institution to be equivalent to or be, in terms of years, an undergraduate or a graduate program of study at a university.

9. In support of each claim for education benefits by a student enrolled in an educational institution, the student shall submit to the Minister, in a form satisfactory to the Minister,

(a) a declaration signed by a responsible officer of the educational institution certifying that the student is or has been enrolled in a program of study requiring full-time or part-time attendance at the educational institution; and

(b) a declaration signed by the student certifying that the student is or has been for a period of time in full-time or part-time attendance at the educational institution.

10. (1) Subject to subsection (2), no educa-tion benefits shall be paid to or in respect of a student for any education or instruction obtained after the student fails to meet the requirements of an educational institution for promotion to the next succeeding level of the full-time or part-time program of study that the student is pursuing at that educational institution.

(2) Where the student fails to meet the requirements of an educational institution for promotion to the next succeeding level of the full-time or part-time program of study that the student is pursuing at that educational institution, the Minister may authorize the continuation of education benefits if

(a) in the opinion of the Minister, the student failed to meet the requirements for promotion for reasons beyond the student’s control; or

(b) the student is subsequently promoted, at that or another educational institution, to the next succeeding level of that full-time or part-time program of study or of another full-time or part-time program of study having, in the opinion of the Minister, equivalent levels.

11. The Minister may, in accordance with the regulations, pay to the educational institution in which any student receiving education benefits under this Act is taking their program of education or instruction any of the costs of the program that are payable to the educational institution.

ANNUAL ADJUSTMENT OF ALLOWANCES

12. (1) Where any allowance is payable under this Act, the basic monthly amount of that allowance shall be adjusted annually, in such manner as may be prescribed by the Governor in Council, so that the amount payable for a month in any following year is an amount equal to the product obtained by multiplying

(a) the amount that would have been payable for that month if no adjustment had been made under this section with respect to that following year,

by

(b) the ratio that the Consumer Price Index for the twelve-month period ending on the thirty-first day of October immediately before that following year bears to the Consumer Price Index for the twelve-month period immediately before that twelve-month period.

(2) In this section and section 14,

(a) a reference to the Consumer Price Index for any twelve-month period means the average of the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act, for each month in that twelve-month period; and

(b) a reference to the basic monthly amount of any allowance shall be construed as a reference to the amount of that allowance, expressed in terms of a monthly amount and calculated without regard to the provisions of this section.

13. Notwithstanding anything in section 12, the amount of any allowance that may be paid to or in respect of a person for a month in any calendar year shall not, by reason only of that section, be less than the amount of the allowance that was or may be paid to or in respect of that person for any month in the immediately preceding calendar year.

14. Where at any time the Consumer Price Index for Canada, as published by Statistics Canada under the authority of the Statistics Act, is adjusted to reflect a new time basis or a new content basis, a corresponding adjustment shall be made in the Consumer Price Index for any twelve-month period that is used for the purpose of calculating the amount of any allowance that may be paid.

REGULATIONS

15. The Minister may make regulations

(a) prescribing the manner of payment of the education benefits under this Act to or in respect of students and the manner of computing the amount of costs payable in respect of a student for any period;

(b) prescribing the conditions in addition to those specified in this Act under which the payment of education benefits may be terminated;

(c) prescribing the criteria to be used for the purpose of establishing or deeming what constitutes full-time or part-time attendance at an educational institution;

(d) prescribing the form and manner of submitting a claim for education benefits;

(e) prescribing anything that, by this Act, is to be prescribed; and

(f) for any other purpose deemed necessary to give effect to this Act.

COMING INTO FORCE

16. The provisions of this Act come into force on a day or days to be fixed by order of the Governor in Council.