December 2, 2009

Professional Engineers Ontario applauds faster recognition of foreign workers

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) has applauded a move by the federal government to accelerate foreign qualification recognition for internationally trained workers.

Under an initiative announced Monday by Human Resources and Skills Development Minister Diane Finley, foreign-trained professionals, including engineers, will be told within one year of application whether their qualifications will be recognized for licensure.

The move begins Dec. 31, 2010.

PEO has long been recognized for its initiatives designed to assist international engineering graduates. An estimated one-third of the province’s 72,000 engineers were educated outside Canada.

In 2005, for the first time ever, PEO licensed more international engineering graduates than graduates of a Canadian-accredited engineering program.

In a statement, PEO CEO/Registrar Kim Allen said that since 2003, PEO has allowed prospective immigrants to begin the licensing process from outside Canada, before they finalize their immigration plans and to continue the process when they arrive in the province.

“This helps to ensure that newcomers arriving in Ontario are provided a head start, with full knowledge of our licensing requirements and that their qualifications are assessed and recognized in a timely manner.”

In May 2007, PEO introduced the engineering intern training financial credit program to encourage engineering graduates and newcomers to Canada to apply for licensure.

The program enables eligible graduates of undergraduate Canadian engineering programs and eligible international engineering graduates with a bachelor of engineering or a bachelor of applied science degree to apply for a professional engineer licence at no cost. They may also be eligible to register in the engineering intern training program for the first year at no cost.

“We encourage representatives at the federal level to continue to promote these aspects of our licensing process to international engineering graduates seeking licensure in Ontario,” Allen said.

A recent audit of the registration practices of PEO confirmed the association’s policies and procedures to be fair, transparent, objective and impartial. The independent audit was an initiative of the Office of the Fairness Commissioner of Ontario to assess compliance with the Fair Access to Regulated Professions Act by regulated professions in the province.

“The findings are a testament to the continuous efforts of our team to ensure a smooth application process for all our applicants and that all qualified applicants in Ontario are given a fair and equal opportunity to obtain their P.Eng. licence,” Allen said.

A licence is not required for engineering employment in Ontario, so long as a licensed professional engineer supervises and is responsible for the work.

Foreign-trained engineers and architects are included in the eight occupations covered by Monday’s announcement.

The Ontario Association of Architects, which regulates the practice of architecture in the province, has been working over the last few years to address concerns and issues faced by foreign-trained professionals.

Most recently, OAA has been working with other provincial and territorial architectural regulators on a broadly experienced foreign training process which would create a mechanism to recognize foreign-trained professionals, based on specific criteria, the association said.

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