Megan S. Kaneen,

Megan advises boards of trustees and plan sponsors on a variety of legal matters involving pension plans, employee life and health trusts and other benefit plans. Her clients include both single employer plans and trusteed multi-employer plans across a wide range of industries.

Megan prepares and amends plan texts and trust agreements, advises on the application of provincial and federal pension legislation and regulator policy, and drafts supporting plan documentation such as participation agreements, third party reimbursement agreements and governance policies. She advises on issues that arise in day-to-day plan administration, assists her clients with specialized projects such as plan conversions, plan terminations and matters related to ownership of plan surplus, and assists the resolution of benefit disputes outside of court. She regularly works with the BC Financial Services Authority and other regulatory agencies through her practice.

Megan also negotiates a variety of plan contracts for her clients, including investment management and subscription agreements, custodial or solvency reserve account trust agreements, letter of credit trust agreements, securities lending agreements, annuity contracts, disability insurance policies and other pension and benefit plan service provider agreements. Megan has significant experience reviewing and advising on pension and benefit plan investment agreements.

• The Law Society of British Columbia, Member
• The Law Society of Saskatchewan, Member
• Canadian Bar Association, Pensions and Benefits Section (Current British Columbia Section Co-Chair (4 terms), Current National Executive Member (4 terms), Past British Columbia Section Chair (3 terms), Past British Columbia Section Secretary (3 terms)
• Canadian Pension & Benefits Institute, Member
• Association of Canadian Pension Management, Member
• International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, Member
• International Pension and Employee Benefits Lawyers’ Association, Member

• Down Syndrome Resource Foundation, Director

• Chambers Canada 2024: recognised for Pensions & Benefits - Nationwide (Band 5)
• Best Lawyers in Canada 2021-2024: recognised for Employee Benefits Law
• Chambers Canada 2022: recognised for Pensions & Benefits - Nationwide (Up & Coming)

Megan has experience:

• Acting for plan sponsors transitioning to an outsourced chief investment officer model for pension plan investments
• Negotiating investment management and subscription agreements
• Reviewing alternative investment documentation
• Negotiating buy-out annuity policies and other group annuity policies with insurers on behalf of pension plan sponsors
• Providing opinions on surplus ownership
• Advising boards of trustees of negotiated cost, multi-employer plans on conversion from defined benefit to target benefit provisions
• Representing a board of trustees to transition a pension plan from federal to provincial jurisdiction
• Advising on plan governance matters and transition to new governance arrangements
• Drafting and amending plan texts for pension plans and employee life and health trusts
• Drafting legal opinions on a variety of matters respecting plan administration, the application of pension, trust and tax law to pension plans and employee life and health trusts, and the interpretation of plan texts and trust agreements
• Advising on plan terminations
• Liaising with the BC Financial Services Authority and other pension regulators on a variety of matters related to the administration of pension plans, including drafting submissions on behalf of clients and preparing requests for consent
• Presenting to retirement committees on pension plan governance and fiduciary obligations
• Negotiating trust agreements, solvency reserve account trust agreements, letter of credit trust agreements and custodial agreements with institutional trustees
• Assisting pension plan administrators to achieve compliance with new pension and family law legislation
• Preparing third party reimbursement agreements and amending disability plan texts to improve the third party reimbursement regime
• Restating and modernizing trust agreements for boards of trustees of pension plans and employee life and health trusts
• Drafting internal policies and plan governance documents, including funding policies, governance policies, terms of reference and investment policies
• Acting for pension plan administrators to assist the resolution of contentious benefit disputes outside of court
• Negotiating pension and benefit terms in a corporate merger agreement
• Representing a company creating a new defined benefit plan
• Providing support in pension and benefit litigation and arbitration matters, including drafting arguments for an arbitration hearing and advising on a pension plan class action