Declared dead, Ontario man is indeed alive and fighting for his pension

UPDATE | Days after CBC contacted Employment and Social Development Canada, Michael Zakrzewski and his wife Stefania received all the money they were owed. ESDC confirmed it has also corrected its records regarding Zakrzewski's existence.

Michael Zakrzewski got the shock of his life when he received a letter saying he's been dead for more than a year — and owes the Government of Canada more than $3,500 in Old Age Security payments.

The 67-year-old man, who lives in Perth, Ont., just west of Ottawa, immediately called Service Canada, assuming it must be a scam. Instead, the department confirmed the letter was legitimate and based on correspondence from a Polish authority. 

"Who made me dead? Based on what? I asked them: do you have my death certificate in front of you? They said, no." said Zakrzewski, who received the letter last month saying he died just before Christmas last year.

First he went to the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which told him it had not sent a letter stating he was dead. He then went to the Polish Social Insurance Institution, known locally as ZUS, and asked them to check their documents.   

"It's very strange," he said. "Nothing was there."

His Polish pension was also paid, as normal, in late March. That's after the letter in question would have been written. 

'We have bills to pay'

Zakrzewski's next scheduled Old Age Security payment never arrived. He became even more concerned when his wife Stefania's payment came up more than $500 short. 

"We have bills to pay," he said. "Because I feel responsible for the house, I'm scared to death." 

The couple found the immediate government response inadequate. Service agents assured them the problem would be solved, but gave no definitive answers on what caused the issue. 

"I'm waking up from some nightmares during the night, maybe because of our background," said Stefania Zakrzewski. "We came from the communist country. It was different. And we came to Canada to be safe and protected. And I don't feel safe anymore."

As dual citizens of Canada and Poland, they are also concerned whether this could come back to haunt them long after it's officially resolved. They plan to travel to Europe to visit their daughter and grandchildren this summer, but wonder what might happen if they are suddenly told Michael is travelling with a "dead man's passport."

Foreign document enough to end benefits

A spokesperson for Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) assured CBC these issues were in the process of being resolved, and a letter was in the mail stating Michael Zakrzewski's "May 2023 benefit payments and beyond would not be impacted by this error."

The mistake stems from "certified correspondence received from Poland" stating Michael Zakrzewski died on Dec. 29, 2022 (a different date than the one included on the letter the Zakrzewskis received). The document reportedly came from ZUS.

The department says next of kin are required to provide proof of death. When notification is done by a foreign institution there are more options:

• A foreign "certification of death" from a country with a social security agreement with Canada.
• An official Death Certificate issued by the jurisdiction where the death occurred.
• A document issued by a foreign government indicating the date of death.

The statement went on to explain Stefania Zakrzewski's payment was lower because her Guaranteed Income Supplement was terminated pending a reassessment of her situation. If she'd been widowed, it would have been increased. Instead, she'll receive her usual payment. 

'It could happen to anyone'

ESDC said it doesn't keep statistics on cases such as this one because it is so rare to have pension payments stopped in error. Once an error is confirmed, the process to reinstate benefits should only take a week, the department said.

As of publication time, neither of the Zakrzewskis say they've received what they are owed.

They also want the payments to be accompanied by a fulsome explanation and an apology. 

"That's just the money," said Michael Zakrzewski. "And the money is just part of the story, because the most important thing is that nobody in the future would go through the same thing."