When COVID-19 arrived in Alberta back in March 2020, many of us prepared for a brief isolation, not expecting to still be washing hands, sanitizing, and distancing for months to come. We’ve now navigated through two full years of working from home and virtual gatherings, of pandemic restrictions and global disruptions. It’s been a time of uncertainty and unknowns, but APEGA has embraced this new reality. We know what we need to do to move forward as a regulator, and we have the technology and tools in place to do it. We remain focused on what matters most: keeping Albertans safe by proactively regulating the practices of engineering and geoscience. Delivering on our strategic priorities Succeeding in an unpredictable environment requires resourcefulness, creativity, and being open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. I’m proud to say our staff and volunteers—including APEGA councillors—are up to this challenge. In fact, I will remember 2021 not for the difficulties we faced, but for the resolution and resiliency I saw all around me. We united with a common purpose to continue delivering on the priorities in APEGA’s strategic plan. These priorities guide our actions every day.
You can find full details on these and our many other successes throughout this report.
Serving through remarkable times At the end of 2021, I am close to completing my fifth year as APEGA’s registrar and chief executive officer. While it has always been a privilege to serve Albertans and APEGA’s more than 70,000 members, it has been an especially remarkable experience to lead the association through these exceptional and unexpected times. There is no pandemic playbook to follow, but I think we got things right. For everyone’s safety, our offices in Calgary and Edmonton remained closed to the public in 2021, and most staff continued to work from home. All APEGA events— from webinars and Science Olympics to disciplinary hearings and Council meetings—were held online. The only exception was our strategic planning retreat and branch golf tournaments, which were held with all public health protocols being followed. It was a wonderful, intangible feeling to engage with my colleagues in person. I look forward to the day when that is once again the norm. A year like no other Looking back, it’s fair to say 2020 was a year for the history books. But 2021—with its ups and downs and highs and lows—was also a year like no other.
Protecting the public through regulatory excellence.
Building trust and confidence in our ability to regulate.
It pushed us to innovate. To continuously improve and do better.
Creating a culture in which people are empowered to grow and excel.
To find new ways to connect. To take care of each other.
This year’s annual report clearly shows the progress we have made towards achieving our strategic priorities, improving our performance, and being a leader in regulation. Some of our achievements include a new graduated risk assessment process for permit-holding companies, the launch of our myAPEGA online services portal, and the strides we’ve made to increase equity, diversity, and inclusivity within our professions and our organization.
And it showed us that no problem—not even the swell of a pandemic—is insurmountable when we work together.
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