Kevin Goheen
About 10 years ago, I was asked to manage a special program for Algonquin College in Ottawa Canada. The International Trained Civil Engineering Technologist (ICTET) program took 35 mid-career civil engineers who had immigrated to Canada but who could not find work because their path to getting a Professional Engineers designation was fraught with difficulties. In ICTET, we rushed the students through a 3 year civil engineering technologist program in one year, supplementing the key parts of the program with English as a Second Language courses and a short co-op placement. All the graduates eventually found work in their field.
A recently released Statistics Canada study: Immigrant Skill Utilization: Immigrants with STEM Education And Trends In Over-Education, reveals that only 39% of immigrants with STEM-field bachelor’s degrees were employed in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) field in 2016. Those who did find a STEM job earned 28% less than Canadian-born STEM graduates. Only 48% of immigrant engineering graduates were employed in a STEM occupation. Immigrants were not alone in being underemployed in the STEM field; only 66% of Canadian-born engineering graduates had STEM jobs, which is part of a larger problem which also needs to be addressed.
Students who study engineering at the university level generally want to work in an engineering career. Even though engineering is a regulated profession in Canadian provinces and territories, you will find that only a fraction of the students who graduate from Canadian universities and work in technical careers are licensed Professional Engineers (P.Eng). In many industries, such as software and electronics, employers do not require their employees to have this designation. However, in others, such as civil engineering and mechanical building systems, having a P.Eng status is essential. Note that if you are not licensed through the regulatory body in your province, you cannot use the title “professional engineer”, “P.Eng”, “engineer” or any other title that may misrepresent you as a licenced professional engineer – it is considered illegal to use any of these titles if you are not licenced by the provincial regulator. A safe way to represent yourself is by saying “internationally educated engineering graduate” or “internationally trained engineering graduate”.
The regulation of professional engineering in Canada is governed by provincial and territorial bodies and you will find that the processes may be slightly different. Engineers Canada is a national organization which helps coordinate the regulations across the country and has published a website EngineerHere.ca which summarizes the most important information.
To become a licensed engineer in Canada, you must prove that you meet five requirements to the engineering regulator in the province or territory where you would like to practice:
- Academic: You have obtained an engineering education.
- Work experience: You have supervised work experience that demonstrates your ability to apply engineering knowledge.
- Language: You communicate competently in at least one of Canada’s two official languages, English or French.
- Good character: You have demonstrated truth, honesty and trustworthiness in your conduct.
- Professionalism and ethics: You have passed the Professional Practice Examination.
Depending on your situation this process can take many years. However, you can still start working in engineering, even if you haven’t been licensed by a regulator, as long as you are supervised by a licensed engineer who takes professional responsibility for your work. The stumbling blocks for most applicants are the academic assessment or the work experience requirement. If you have graduated from a university in a country that was not a signatory to the Washington Accord, your education will need to be assessed. You will have to provide official transcripts and course descriptions and you may be assigned technical exams. In most provinces and territories, you will also need to prove that you have completed a minimum of four years of engineering work experience.
You can earn most of your required work experience outside of Canada, although at least one year of engineering experience in a Canadian environment is required for all applicants in all jurisdictions. You will be required to present this experience in a format required by the regulator. In general, your engineering work experience should demonstrate that you possess the core engineering competencies required for licensure.
- Technical Competence
- Communication
- Project and Financial Management
- Team Effectiveness
- Professional Accountability
- Social, Economic, Environmental and Sustainability
- Personal Continuing Professional Development
To protect the public interest, the engineering regulator you have applied to will assess your required year of Canadian engineering work experience. This serves two purposes:
- to ensure you are familiar with Canadian engineering practices, codes, and standards, as well as other cultural, technical, and business practices. In the civil engineering sector, I noted that many internationally trained civil engineers had little experience with wood construction codes, as an example.
- to confirm the level of engineering work experience undertaken outside of Canada
The requirement for Canadian experience has been the subject of Human Rights challenges but so far has been held up by the courts.
Some internationally trained engineers may be surprised by the environment in the workplace where gender equity is actively promoted. About 30% of students in Canadian engineering university programs are female and the profession has set a goal of having 30% female as newly registered engineers by 2030. Also, in terms of diversity, I have found in my engineering career that the number of backgrounds represented on a typical work team is large and leads to good solutions and a fun environment. It is important to be aware of the diversity that exists in the Canadian work place and be prepared to respect them. Contact your Build ON employment consultant for more information on how to begin the process of becoming an engineer in Canada.