Board of Examiners
The Government of Alberta, through the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act , establishes the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) as the regulatory body responsible for the protection of public interest and safety within the practices of engineering and geoscience. In terms of the professional registration of registrants, this means APEGA is responsible for assuring the public that registrants are competent to practise the profession independently. APEGA’s Registration department staff and the Board of Examiners (BOE) make that assurance when they review an applicant’s academic and experience requirements. The BOE held in-person meetings in June and November and met virtually for the other monthly meetings. No meeting was held in July. Registration staff continues to review applicants designated as not high risk. Each staff member reviews about 50 applicant files per month, spending about two to three hours on each file. The BOE reviews high-risk files at their monthly meetings. In 2024, the Registration department completed 95 per cent of the applications it received within six months, a requirement set by the Fair Registration Practices Act . This review rate is a major improvement on the 2017 completion rate of 78 per cent, but it falls short of the 100 per cent required by the act. However, it is critical that public safety is never compromised, regardless of any established time frame. The Competency-Based Assessment (CBA) Task Force completed its work on validator issues with a report (submitted to the BOE) identifying various options for addressing these issues. The BOE determined, by vote, the most appropriate option for each issue. The Policy Working Group continued to meet twice a month on matters such as updating policies and, recently, on the registration requirement of 12 months of Canadian experience. This requirement poses an obstacle for some engineers from outside Canada. Revisions made to the Canadian Work Environment Competencies policy will allow applicants who lack Canadian experience to provide this requirement through CBA. A similar process is being developed for geoscientists. As part of the anticipated Professional Governance Act (PGA), the Alberta government may aim to clarify the involvement of public members on the Registration Committee (as the BOE is named in the PGA). It is our understanding they may remain on many APEGA committees and boards, although they may no longer serve on the Registration Committee. In the opinion of the current BOE, there should be at least one public member on the Registration Committee, with the appointment made based on the recommendation of APEGA Council. We thank Registration staff members for their work and diligence in supporting the BOE and the dedication of all BOE members and subcommittees. Registration staff and the BOE remain committed to prioritizing public safety in all decision-making processes.
Leslie Beard Allan Mah Ernest Skakun, PhD Public Members
53 60
apega.ca
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