3. Significant accounting policies (continued):

(i) Employee future benefits:

(i) Pension plan:

EWU provides a pension plan for all its full-time employees through Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (“OMERS”). OMERS is a multi-employer, contributory, defined benefit pension plan established in 1962 by the Province of Ontario for employees of municipalities, local boards and school boards in Ontario. Both participating employers and employees are required to make plan contributions based on participating employees' contributory earnings.

OMERS is a defined benefit plan. However, as OMERS does not segregate its pension assets and liabilities information by individual employer, there is not sufficient information to enable EWU to account for the plan as a defined benefit plan. The plan has been accounted for as a defined contribution plan. Obligations for contributions to defined contribution pension plans are recognized as an employee benefit expense in income when they are due. At December 31, 2019, the OMERS plan is in a deficit position.

(ii) Post-employment benefits, other than pension:

EWU pays certain health, dental and life insurance benefits, under unfunded defined benefit plans, on behalf of its retired employees. These benefits are provided through a group defined benefit plan. EWU is the legal sponsor of the Plan. There is a policy in place to allocate the net defined benefit cost to the entities participating in the group plan. The allocation is based on the obligation attributable to the plan participants. EWU has reflected its share of the defined benefit costs and related liabilities, as calculated by the actuary, in these consolidated financial statements.

EWU accrues the cost of these employee future benefits over the periods in which the employees earn the benefits. The accrued benefit obligations and the current service costs are actuarially determined by applying the projected unit credit method and reflect management’s best estimate of certain underlying assumptions. The current service cost for a period is equal to the actuarial present value of benefits attributed to that period in which employees rendered their services.