Why Canada Needed the Pension Centre of Excellence—and Why It’s Finally Here

By Dr. Bonnie-Jeanne MacDonald, Co-Lead, Pension Centre of Excellence; Director of Financial Security Research, National Institute on Ageing

It’s not often that you can clearly recognize the start of something with the potential to shape the future—but that’s exactly what it felt like standing in front of our colleagues, partners, and friends at the inaugural Symposium of the Pension Centre of Excellence (PCE) at the National Institute on Ageing. The PCE is a new non-partisan, research-informed and action-oriented knowledge exchange platform dedicated to improving the retirement financial security of Canadians at the National Institute on Ageing.

While it was a celebration of a new forum, this gathering also marked the culmination of something much deeper: a shared recognition that Canada’s retirement income system—a system touching nearly every person in the country—needs a dedicated space for research, evidence, collaboration, and coordinated action. And now, thanks to the unwavering support of 31 founding member organizations, we have that space.

Together, we’ve taken something that used to fall between mandates and made it everyone’s shared mission: a financially secure and dignified retirement for all Canadians.

Filling a Long-Standing Gap

Over the last two decades, I’ve had the opportunity to participate in pension discussions around the world. Again and again, one fact stood out: Canada lacked what so many other countries already had—a dedicated institutional hub to advance rigorous pension research, policy innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.

Too often in Canada, meaningful work on pensions has depended on goodwill—on passionate and dedicated individuals squeezing research and advocacy into the margins of their day jobs. While this has led to impressive progress thanks to the efforts of many talented professionals, the absence of a formal structure has resulted in missed opportunities: to build on one another’s insights, to pool resources, and to generate the research and evidence needed to drive progress.

This is especially urgent now, as our population ages, retirement becomes more complex and the need for sustainable, equitable, and effective retirement income solutions grows. Most retiring Canadians will need income beyond what public programs (CPP/QPP, OAS, GIS) provide. Workplace pensions once helped fill the gap, but they’ve become increasingly rare—particularly in the private sector. As of 2023, Statistics Canada reports that two-thirds of Canadian workers lacked a registered pension plan, including over three-quarters of private sector workers.

Trillions of dollars—and millions of futures—are at stake. Through its focus on improving the retirement income system for all—including underrepresented groups—the PCE aims to surface innovative models and policy approaches to close this retirement income adequacy gap.

Built to Bring Us Together

The PCE was not created to serve any one institution, sector, or ideology. It was created for the system—and for the Canadians it serves.

We are a national platform for ongoing, high-quality research, a convenor of diverse perspectives and a collective engine for progress. Our structure was designed intentionally to bring together the best of academic thought and real-world practice—from pension plans and policy experts to insurers, economists and advocates.

Above all, we are guided by a core understanding: no single actor can solve these challenges alone. Improving retirement income security demands inclusive, evidence-informed dialogue—and that’s exactly what the PCE provides.

A Community of Champions

The launch of the PCE has been nothing short of extraordinary—not because it came from a place of power, but because it came from a place of shared purpose.

In many countries, institutions like this are funded and driven by government. In Canada, this has not been the case. The PCE is a grassroots achievement that exists because of the vision, generosity, and leadership of its members—and because of the foundation laid by the National Institute on Ageing, which enabled this new initiative to take shape.

As my brilliant co-lead, Barbara Sanders, so aptly put it:

“The Pension Centre of Excellence is built on the thought leadership of its members, supported by a distinguished network of researchers, all of whom bring unparalleled expertise to the table.”

Looking Ahead

The PCE is not just a research body. It is a living platform—one where ideas flow both ways. Our symposia are designed not only to share findings but to gather insights from across the sector. These insights will shape our research, and our research will, in turn, inform policy and practice.

This is the formula for driving progress. It’s one I’ve believed in throughout my career—and now, with the PCE, we finally have the means to apply it at scale.

To everyone who has contributed, advocated, and believed in this vision: thank you. You’ve helped lay the foundation for something that will benefit generations to come.