Well, this might not be worth much these days, but I'll pass it along anyway. As a U.S. retiree, I have been receiving my pension under a defined U.S. pension program for eight years.

My October 1 advice of direct deposit is still listing the phone for the Nortel Pension Service Center as 1-866-667-8358. I think it works for both Canadian and U.S. employees. I just hope someone is still there to answer the phone.

However, I also have just received a form letter dated September 17, 2009, notifying me that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a U.S. Government Agency, is now responsible for the Nortel Networks Retirement Income Plan. (At least for U.S. retirees and workers.)

That's about all it said, except that payments will continue without interruption, the amount will be an estimate until they can determine the exact amount they can pay me under the law, and I'll get more info later and a form to fill out.

Their Customer Contact Center can be reached at 1-800-400-7242. If that doesn't work in Canada, their web site is www.pbgc.gov.

Perhaps they can direct you to a their specific counterpart in Canada if there is one.

Re: their saying your employee ID number being obsolete, I had the same problem. But all I had to do was provide my U.S. Social Security Number that Nortel used to report my income and taxes withheld to the government. I then got a "modern" employee number and everything went smoothly to complete the pension forms.

I'd suspect they could to the same with whatever you have in Canada.

Good luck!