Work with dignity, retire with confidence: What LGBTQI+ refugees can learn from Canada’s pension and union landscape

I recently had a conversation with a friend who told me that I had “a very clear and strong relationship with [my] future self.” She made the comment after I told her about another article I wrote focused on closing the retirement security gap for refugees. I smiled when she said it, and joked that I was obsessed with refugee retirement.

This obsession comes from my deep understanding of the structural barriers to retirement planning for many LGBTQI+ refugees in Canada.

While the immediate post-relocation priorities for LGBTQI+ refugees are survival and stability, as the years pass, an imprortant question surfaces: What does retirement look like for those of us who had to rebuild later in life? This question is particularly critical for many of us who do not have (chosen) family in Canada.

Furthermore, LGBTQI+ refugees typically have fewer contribution years in Canada’s public pension system. And sometimes find ourselves in jobs that don’t come with additional retirement benefits.

At the same time, navigating retirement investment in accounts like the RRSP (Registered Retirement Saving Plan) and the TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) can feel overwhelming for those who don’t see themselves as ‘investment savvy’.

Against that backdrop, this article explores one of the most powerful pathways to retirement security in Canada for LGBTQI+ refugees: union-protected jobs with pension plans.

Unequal access to pensions in Canada

Canada’s retirement system is made up of three main parts.

Public benefits, which include the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Old Age Security (OAS), and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS)
Private savings such as in RRSPs and TFSAs
Workplace pensions including defined benefit and defined contribution plans or hybrid plans

For LGBTQI+ refugees, the public pillar can be limited. Those who arrive at 35+, for example, will not accumulate enough years of CPP or OAS contributions to maximize benefits (which are already inadequate) by age 65. We also lose TFSA and RRSP contribution years, which limits how much we can save tax-free or tax-deferred for retirement. This reality makes workplace pensions particularly significant.

Yet, not all workers have equal access. According to Statistics Canada, 37.7% of workers in Canada are covered by a Registered Pension Plan.

The Value of a good pension

The stability of a pension allows people to retire with security, not uncertainty. That is not just a financial matter—it is a social one.

This explains why the 2025 Canadian Retirement Survey showed that 88% of Canadians would prefer to contribute 9% of their income to a defined benefit pension plan.

Furthermore, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan conducted a study which showed that retirement security for a typical worker was 4x less expensive in a Canadian-model pension plan than a typical individual approach.

The study attributed this to five value drivers.

Saving. People contribute less when saving on their own and contribute more when saving is mandatory. Pension plans require mandatory saving.
Fees and costs. Administrative fees and costs in good pension plans tend to be significantly lower than in retail investment accounts.
Investment discipline. Greater investment discipline among pension fund managers than individual investors.
Fiduciary governance. Pension fund managers have a fiduciary duty to their members and operate on a non-profit basis to benefit workers. These funds tend to perform better than retail funds managed by for-profit companies.
Risk pooling. Individual or retail investors are the sole bearers of the risks linked to their investment. They also have the added burden of ensuring they do not outlive their money. A good pension plan “creates efficiencies by pooling longevity and investment risk”.

Leveraging the union edge for LGBTQI+ refugees

According to the Canadian Labour Congress over 80% of union members have access to a workplace pension, compared to just 36% of non-union workers. In other words, union membership more than doubles the likelihood of having a pension. This is an edge that LGBTQI+ refugees can leverage.

Additionally, unionized employees in Canada have access to a broader package of social and economic security, including better wages, health and dental care benefits, and disability insurance.

These differences matter for all Canadians. But they carry particular weight for LGBTQI+ refugees, who are often rebuilding life with fewer assets and weaker social safety nets.

Unions bargain for dignified futures. And they offer collective protections for many otherwise disadvantaged employees in ways that help shape long-term stability.

Beyond individual choice: A Matter of justice

The evidence suggests that union-protected jobs with pensions can be a crucial pathway for LGBTQI+ refugees to build retirement security.

These jobs do not eliminate every barrier. But they demonstrate how collective bargaining and workplace protections can equalize security in ways that benefit people who are rebuilding lives after displacement.

This is not about individual refugees simply choosing better jobs. Access to pensioned, unionized work is shaped by broader systems.

Still, there is power in recognizing that retirement security is not just a private matter. It is also about justice. LGBTQI+ refugees, like all workers, deserve futures with dignity. Yet, too often are forced into precarious, low-wage jobs where pensions are absent and benefits limited.

Encouraging pathways into unionized, pensioned work is both an economic strategy and a collective affirmation that LGBTQI+ refugees belong in the centre of Canada’s labour market—not at its margins.

Final thoughts

Retirement goes beyond personal savings and investment savvy. It is about access to structures—pensions, unions, and collective protections—that spread risk and secure futures.

The numbers tell a powerful story. Over 80% of unionized workers have pensions, compared to 36% of non-unionized workers. That gap reflects not just financial outcomes, but deeper questions of equity and belonging.

Work should not only provide survival and stability today—it should open the door to security tomorrow. For LGBTQI+ refugees rebuilding our lives in Canada, that security is not a luxury. It is part of what it means to live, work, and retire with dignity.

While we can’t all access unionized jobs, as a community, we can advocate for employer-funded pension plans. They play a critical role in closing the retirement security gap not just for LGBTQI+ refugees, but for all employees.