The Conservative government tabled a bill Tuesday to cut off pension and income support payments to inmates in federal prisons.
Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced the proposed legislation, which would cut off Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement payments to inmates aged 65 and older.
"As long as they're incarcerated we do not believe they should be collecting these benefits," she said.
The measure will affect about 400 prisoners in federal institutions and another 600 in provincial jails once provincial and territorial governments join the federal initiative, Finley said at a news conference in Ottawa.
Finley said the bill would save up to $10 million a year in payments under the two programs, once all the provinces and territories sign on with the proposed legislation.
"We're quite confident that we'll be able to move quickly with the majority of the provinces," she said.
The government only acted on the issue after reading media reports that infamous serial child killer Clifford Olson was receiving $1,100 a month in benefits, transferred to a trust account in his name.
Olson, 70, is serving 11 consecutive life sentences for the brutal killings of 11 children and is not expected to ever be released from prison.
"We didn't realize that inmates were entitled to the OAS," Finley said. "There are 4 million people who are collecting old age security benefits. We do not go through the list name by name … As soon as we realized inmates were in this group we acted."
The bill would affect all prisoners serving sentences of two years or longer, although Finley said the government is looking into extending it to those serving sentences of between 90 days and two years.
It would not affect the spouses or common-law partners of inmates: "We're not punishing them for the deeds of their spouse."
She said once prisoners were released, they would regain their eligibility for pension and support payments.
"Canadians who work hard and obey the rules are entitled to these benefits. It's wrong and obviously unfair that prisoners who break the rules receive the same benefits," Finley said.
Sharon Rosenfeldt, president of Victims of Violence, welcomed the announcement. "It's great to see that this government is putting victims and taxpayers first ahead of criminals."
In late May, Finley was presented with a petition from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation demanding that the government stop paying pension and income supplement payments to prisoners.
According to the federation, more than 46,000 people signed the petition.
