Series MS-2237 - Association of Professional Engineers of BC records

The Association of Professional Engineers of the Province of British Columbia [APEBC] had its origins at a meeting held in Vancouver on 1 February 1919. The meeting was called by the Executive Committee of the Vancouver Branch of the Engineers' Institute of Canada. Committee members felt that local engineers, particularly those employed on public works by the Civil Service Commission of Canada, were not adequately paid. The meeting was attended by about seventy local engineers who subsequently formed the United Professional Engineers of British Columbia. Ernest G. Matheson, Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia, was elected chairman and president. In March 1919 the name of the new organization was changed to the British Columbia Technical Union [BCTU] and on 1 May of that year it was incorporated under the Benevolent Societies Act. The objects of the BCTU were: to obtain adequate public recognition of technical men; to establish scales of minimum fees for consultants and obtain recognition of the same; to obtain equitable remuneration for salaried technical men and their salaried technical assistants; to secure the consultation and employment of local members of the technical profession for work in British Columbia and to discourage the importation of men for technical work when duly qualified men are available in the province and; to protect the public by encouraging the employment of qualified technical men [B.C. Gazette 1 May 1919, pp. 1394-95]. After labour unrest in Vancouver in June 1919, when a number of members expressed their opposition to militant "unionism," the BCTU changed its name to the British Columbia Technical Association [BCTA]. A major concern of the BCTA was the status of qualified engineers; that is, members of the Association who wished to be recognized as "professionals," equal in status to lawyers, medical doctors, and other professional men. British Columbia engineers achieved this status through the Engineering Profession Act [BCS 10 Geo.V, c.108]. Proclaimed in 1920, the act came into effect on 1 April 1921. The Engineering Profession Act, which was drafted by the BCTA and introduced into the legislature by Frederick W. Anderson, a civil engineer and MLA for Kamloops, established the Association of Professional Engineers of the Province of British Columbia. Under the act, only those who were members of the Association or who were licenced by it were entitled to call themselves "professional engineers" and use the initials "P.ENG." after their names. Also under the act, the Council of the APEBC was empowered to establish professional standards for engineers, evaluate engineers' qualifications, set examinations, issue seals for use by registered engineers, and discipline members. The act was revised in 1948, 1955, and 1979 (when it was renamed the Engineers' Act). This act and the APEBC continue to govern the practice of professional engineering in British Columbia to this day. Records include microfilm copies of APEBC Council minutes (1920-1949) and a copy of the Association's Register of Members (1920-1946). Also included are the minutes of the BCTA and its precursors (1919-1920), records relating to the APEBC's Benevolent Fund, examination papers, and financial reports, along with almost one hundred "Deceased Members" files. The latter document the qualifications and careers of men who were among the first members of the Association. In addition, MS-2237 includes minutes of the British Columbia Engineering Society (1943-1956), a fraternal/educational/professional organization that was incorporated under the Societies Act on 17 June 1943. A "Junior Section" of the BCES was established in 1946 to serve younger professional engineers (i.e. those under 40 years of age) and engineers-in-training. This section became the Vancouver Branch of the BCES in 1950. It operated until March 1956, when the British Columbia Engineering Society was dissolved. Prior to its dissolution, the BCES had published the Blueprint, a monthly journal containing non-technical articles and reports of interest to registered engineers in Western Canada.