PEO Scarborough Chapter Events

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Chapter Board Meetings

Chapter board meeting are normally held on first Friday of every month.

Members may register to attend a meeting by contacting the Secretary - please click on "contact" on menu for more details of Board Members.

Next board meeting

Date: 13 August, 2010 - (Friday)
Time: 6:30 PM

To register to attend next BOD meeting, please visit http://www.scarborough.peo.on.ca/
Click on Event Calendar on left, click on event on August 13, click Register Now.

Venue: Please note new venue for upcoming meeting
Community Room, 39 Kimbercroft Court, Scarborough (Markham/Milner - West of 42nd Div Police station)

Map - Click for Map of location

Agenda of meeting - Click to view/download

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Message from Chair to the new licensees

(Extracted from his inagural speech during the Certificate Presentation Ceremony held on May 31, 2010)

Raju Chander, M.S., P.Eng.

I am extremely happy to note that we have a galaxy of distinguished guests with us today to congratulate and honour the new licensees. Hon. Bas Balkissoon, MPP our long time supporter has taken his time to come here to support our new engineers. We also have the Vice President and Chief Nuclear Engineer of Ontario Power Generation with us to distribute the licences. In addition we have dignitaries from PEO like Corneliu Chisu, Vice President, four councillors and four chapter chairs of PEO.

This is an opportunity for the chapter to welcome the new engineers into the fold of Scarborough Chapter on behalf of PEO. This license which will be awarded to you today is a symbol of recognition which has been bestowed upon you by the people of Ontario. The people of Ontario have created an act which gives you certain privileges, recognition and a decoration. This recognition or decoration also comes with an obligation, obligation on your part to honor the will of the people. The people of Ontario have confidence in this profession, in the engineering profession, that these engineers will create something that will imrove their quality of life while protecting them form its hazards i.e. public safety. Public Safety is always in your hands and that is demonstrated by the license which has been given to you. License is a piece of paper which is a symbolic representation of this recognition. From today onwards you have this special privilege which has been given to you by the government of Ontario. As you realize, when some confidence is reposed on us it becomes imperative on our part to live up to that promise and expectation. The same act which has given you this right to call yourself and serve as an engineer has also attached a liability. From today onwards you will be liable for your work. If you do not live up to the expectations of the people you will be punished. It is the same act that has given you the right has also put this liability on you. Please bear in mind that as professional engineers we are being monitored all the time, not by PEO but by the people of the province.

It came to my mind that one of the engineering problems, which has occurred very recently, is creating an environmental havoc in the Gulf of Mexico. If you look at this, it was an engineering feat to get the oil out from a well which is over 10 000 meters deep. This magnificient engineering act has given the access to a huge reservoir of oil embedded so deep under the ocean. But whatever the task we do it’s a mandate on us that we do it safely. When we say safety, it is with reference to the safety of the people and environment. Here, the conflict of interest could become one of the most important issue. You are working for a corporation which has its interests that is tied to coprporate profits, but bear it in mind that you are first an engineer and you have to live up to the license which has placed a trust in you as an engineer, and the corporation is second. Thus, at any point in time, if there is a conflict between the corporation interest and the public interest as a licensed professional engineer and according to the Professional Engineers Act it is expected that you will live to the expectations of the people. That you are there to protect their interests. You do protect the corporation’s interest which is coming next to it but at no point of time you can sacrifice the public’s interest for the corporation. I am not implying here that the engineers of British Peroleum have done something wrong; at this juncture we do not know what has happened so it is just a reminder to us.

As you know, PEO is self-regulating body. When we say a self-regulating body, this body has been given the right by Professional Engineers Act and it is our duty to conduct our organization, our regulation as per the act. Every member of PEO is also a party to the regulation. So we want all the engineers, including the newly licensed engineers, to participate in this process. Regulation is one of the most important factors for engineers since it is having such a dynamics that your life is intimately connected to this profession and this license. We have over 75,000 member and all 75,000 members are eliigble to vote and elect the governing body. We have here the PEO councilors and the Vice-President who have all been elected by you. These people are supposed to discharge what you wish and if they do not do this you have the opportunity to replace them with people who are good enough. And we have what is called as chapters. PEO has 37 chapters which gives the opportunity to intimately interact with its members. You also have the opportunity to come to the chapter’s meetings, such that you can voice and convey your opinion to the PEO head quarters such that the regulation is carried out as it should be. Scarborough Chapter is one of the 37 chapters and has approximately 2,200 members. As the Chair of this chapter I request the newly licensed engineers and any other engineer in the Scarborough area to participate actively in the Scarborough Chapter such that we can do what we are responsible for. And I am happy to say that the Scarborough Chapter is blessed with a very good number of dedicated volunteers who are doing all this. Today’s ceremony would not have been like this without about 10 volunteers working for us. They have put in days and days of effort to put together a ceremony such as this. We hold two such ceremonies apart from many other events which are mainly focused towards school programs or towards the technical interests of the people.

As engineers we should be proud that statistically it is indicated that about 90% of the population have confidence in engineers, they trust us. This trust on engineers is something that we should maintain and see to it that our profession becomes one of the sought after professions. Unfortunately, we have a problem. Engineers work cannot be seen by the people. They use our services but they are not able to relate the engineering profession to these services. For example, everything in this building including the building itself has been designed by engineers. Everybody uses this facility and everybody knows that this is required but they do not realize that there is an engineer behind every such structure. We take it for granted that electricity will come to our home. Yes, it does. It’s a thing for which you are paying for. But it will not come if engineers don’t exist. Unfortunately this is something that needs to be brought to the public focus. And that is one of the mandates of the chapter. We try to tell people that engineers are there for you and are doing a service for you everyday. We want the public to realize and percieve the reality! This is the only way the people can be enlightened. Why am I telling you this? Because engineering profession is slightly different from other professions like doctors, accountants, lawyers, etc. People see their work and they realize what a doctor does but they do not realize what an engineer does. The can see what a lawyer does. They can see what they are doing. They enjoy it. The people do not come to you to get their product but the product goes to them! So onus is upon us to educate the public and change their attitude. One of the vehicles to do this is the chapter. Another thing is the public perception. The most important thing to realize is that what people carry in their mind is their perception. People do not go by data and real things. People are always carried forward by perception. And that perception is something which we have to create. We have to show constantly that engineering profession has done so many things. That so many wonders of the world are due to the engineers. And this perception is what we have to inculcate into people’s mind. What I am telling you here is something that can be done by the chapters and which can be done by you if you join the chapter, you will be able to carry this message forward. Which is in your interest, in the interest of the regulating body which is the interest of the profession.

Now is the time for a special recognition and this message was not been shared by me with any of the volunteers including the volunteer who is going to get it.

Why I am telling you is that he is such a selfless volunteer. He has been working for the chapter for the last 15 years. When he told me that he has conducted this sort of ceremony 25 times, I was not just surprised but amazed. You just imagine the amount of patience and commitment he has had to do this. It’s really amazing. Normally people come for one or two occasions and then they get bored. But there was this gentleman who worked, worked and he will never come to the forefront. He will never come to the podium. He will be farthest person from the stage. In addition to that, he was the person who just stepped aside this year, why? Not because he was tired. Not because he did not want to do it. But he stepped aside such that the younger volunteers could get into the chapter board. This is something which is not happening in many other chapters. People just don’t make way. They stay there and that’s the end of it, a static system without any dynamism. Their inertia grows and kills the system. That great volunteer is nobody other than Ken Chiu. I can tell you this is the first time he is seen by the people. Most of the time he is an unseen hero. Usually when a person steps aside from the board we give him a certificate which is given from the PEO for the service rendered. But this time we decided, or I decided, not to give the certificate because he has decided not to leave us. He is going to be with us. He has just stepped aside. He has earned this recognition not as a committee member but as a volunteer.

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Volunteering with Scarborough Chapter

The chapter organizes various events of engineering interest, such as technical talks, workshops with hands-on experience, visits to installations, contests for school children, financial seminars, etc., etc.

All these events require planning, organizing and implementation. The chapter requires volunteers to take charge of the various activities required to execute a successful event.

What you could do at Scarborough Chapter:

organize an event of your choice;
speak and present before a professional gathering by becoming a Master of Ceremonies;
interact with the community and the community leaders;
participate in major PEO activities.

What does a volunteer gain in this process?

Volunteering in chapter activities gives an exposure to project planning, teamwork, implementation, etc. with such added features as:

a very friendly atmosphere of group members with a diverse knowledge;
participation in not only one’s own field of expertise, but in diverse technical fields;
a way of networking–getting to know others in the engineering field; could be a way to get a job for newcomers to Canada and new graduates or a change of job and career development;
opening a way to get involved in the administration of engineering.

Our chapter welcomes all its members to join the volunteering team.

Contact Chapter Board of Executives

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You can also check

2009-12-05 MathBall
2009-12-01 Fall Certificate Presentation
2009-11-28 Provincial Mathletics
2009-11-15 Mathletics
2009-05-26 Spring Certificate Presentation
2009-05-19 Fuel Cell Plant Visit
2009-05-09 Visions of Science - Network for Learning

Past Events:
Newsletter 2008 December
Newsletter 2007 December