Apparently, there is an email circulating which discusses the difference between the funds provided for Old Age Pension vs. the funds provided refugees to Canada. It goes as follows.
CANADA PENSION
Only in Canada.
Do not apply for your old age pension. Apply to be a refugee. It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890.00 and each can get an additional $580.00 in social assistance for a total of $2,470.00.
This compares very well to a single pensioner who, after contributing to the growth and development of Canada for 40 or 50 years, can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012.00 in old age pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement.
Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!
I wanted to do my due diligence so took a quick peek around the Government of Canada website for refugee funding and found the $580 RAP (Resettlement Assistance Program) money but could not find where the $1,890 came from.
If anyone out there is aware of where this $1,890 monthly allowance comes from, I would appreciate knowing because if this email circulating is true, it really says a lot about how poorly we have Officially Screwed our senior citizens.
ADDENDUM – I found the Old Age Security payment charts. There is obviously some variation on the amount from the email floating around. You can see the whole grid below and for much more info click the link above. The Guaranteed Income Supplement from the government site is $1006.19. This is not quite the $1012 claimed in the email but pretty darn close so I give the email some credibility here.

While digging for the source of the $1890, I did find the one time household start up page but this is not a monthly allowance. It simply helps refugees start up a household with initial clothing, food, cleaning supplies, phone hookup, etc.