NEWS
PEO Hosts Its First Hybrid AGM PEO’s 2024 Annual General Meeting was the first to offer both in-person and virtual attendance options. By Adam Sidsworth
A LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Fraser, in his then-role as PEO president, opened the meeting with a land acknowledgment that also addressed the underrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in engineering. “When I reflect on reconciliation and engineering, I cannot help but remember my school days in Regina, where, after Grade 8, my class composition changed dramatically,” Fraser observed. “Where once about a quarter of my class were comprised of First Nations and Métis people, in Grade 9, it dropped to just two students, and by Grade 11 onwards, I had no First Nations or Métis classmates. When I look back, I realize just how critical support systems are to keeping students in school and for opening them up to opportunities they may not otherwise have…I wish to keep the doors to engineering or any other career open to all who wish to pursue their interests and dreams.” Fraser’s remarks echo the commitment of PEO to increase equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in its operations, including its licensing process. This includes a partnership with Indigenous Community Engagement to develop strategies to increase Indigenous representation among its licence holders.
ACKNOWLEDGING STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS PEO CEO/Registrar Jennifer Quaglietta, MBA, P.Eng., ICD.D, used the opportunity to acknowledge that she is leading a dedicated and committed staff, stating: “The truth is that our successes and accomplishments would not have been possible without the almost 150-strong workforce at PEO. I am tremendously proud of their professionalism and dedication to helping PEO achieve its mission to regulate the practice of professional engineering in Ontario to safeguard life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare and the environment.” At the same time, Quaglietta took the time to recognize the dedicated work of PEO’s over 900 volunteers. “It is only appropriate that this year PEO’s AGM falls during National Volunteer Week,” Quaglietta observed. “As noted by Volunteers Canada, ‘the sharing of time, skills, empathy and creativity is vital to the inclusivity, strength and well-being of our communities.’ Whether you volunteer your time on Council, on a PEO committee or at chapter events in your community, you are doing your part to contribute to the professional self-regulation of engineering in Ontario.” Quaglietta then introduced a PEO-produced video featuring Quaglietta and Fraser thanking the commitment of PEO’s volunteers.
ATTORNEY GENERAL ATTENDS AGM A total of 349 people attended in person and virtually, including Attorney General Doug Downey, LLB, LLM, the provincial cabinet minister to whom PEO is responsible, who attended the AGM in person. Coincidently, the AGM was held in Downey’s riding of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte. Downey expressed an interest in a continued working relationship with PEO’s leadership, noting: “We brought some changes through [the Less Red Tape, More Common Sense Act last year, changing the [Professional Engineers Act (PEA)], which I’m sure you’ll be talking about over the course of today.” Those changes, which were passed by the legislature last year, allow PEO to introduce some administrative changes and improve its complaints process (see “PEA Amendments Simplify Complaints Process,” Engineering Dimensions, Winter 2024, p. 43). In a nod to PEO history, Downey acknowledged the contribution of former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurty, LLB, to PEO history. McMurty, who passed away in March, was attorney general from 1975 to 1985 and was instrumental in introducing major changes to the PEA in 1984. “Roy was a big supporter of engineers, and back in 1984, I happened to be a page at the legislature, when Roy was helping make changes for Professional Engineers Ontario. I just wanted to note that he really was a remarkable leader.”
MEMBER SUBMISSION PRESENTED At every AGM, licence holders are afforded the opportunity to present a submission that can be considered and debated on by licence holders in attendance at the AGM. Although the motion is voted on, the choice to act on the submission rests with Council. Prakash Bansod, PhD, P.Eng., submitted a motion, seconded by Zeljko Sikic, P.Eng., asking that PEO’s Code of Ethics be amended “to implement its version of the Hippocratic Oath, which implies that engineering practitioners must anticipate the results of their actions to ensure that these actions do no harm to humans and the human condition” and that a subclause be added to the Code of Ethics stating that “engineering practitioners are forbidden to apply their engineering seal to any document related to professional engineering under their purview if, in their considered opinion, the engineering entity described in or related to this document results in violating the ‘do no harm to human or the human condition.’”
PEO’s annual general meeting (AGM) on April 20 was the regulator’s first hybrid AGM, offering both virtual and in-person attendance options at Horseshoe Resort in Barrie, ON. Historically, PEO hosted its AGMs in person before going solely virtual from 2020 on due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The 2024 AGM saw PEO’s presidency transition from Roydon Fraser, PhD, P.Eng., FEC, to Gregory P. Wowchuk, P.Eng., FEC, as well as the swearing in of the 2024–2025 Council.
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Engineering Dimensions
Summer 2024