APEGNB Plays Important Role In New Brunswick 

The Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick was incorporated in 1920 and is governed by the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act 1999.

The legislation is similar to that which applies to most professions in all provinces and territories in Canada and the objects of the Association are:

1. to regulate the practice of engineering and geoscience and to govern these professions in accordance with this Act and the By-Laws;
2. to establish and maintain standards of knowledge and skill among its members; and
3. to establish and maintain standards of professional ethics among its members,

in order that the public interest may be served and protected.

APEGNB, therefore, is responsible for statutory services as required by the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act, to safeguard life, health and property through qualified ethical conduct in professional engineering for the benefit of the public, and to a somewhat lesser degree, to provide services to the general membership to aid in professional development.

In order to administer the legislation concerning the practice of qualified professional engineering and geoscience, there must be machinery for the review and guidance of educational requirements, the development and maintenance of professional standards before and after registration, the adherence to ethics and, as a licensing body, APEGNB is obliged to carry out the functions associated with enforcement and discipline.

With regard to the general membership services, APEGNB is involved to a limited degree in those things which can reasonably be expected to apply to a significant number of members, or which can benefit the organization as a whole. These include international communications, public relations, liaison with other professions, limited counselling and placement services, life and liability insurance programs, awards, scholarships, and items of concern to special interest groups such as consulting practices and employee engineers and geoscientists.

To tie this together, the public protection on one hand and membership benefits on the other, there are routine housekeeping needs required for the proper functioning of any democratic administrative structure, such as election procedures, council meetings, general meetings, committee and branch activities, planning and finance procedures and the need for day-to-day administrative mechanisms necessary to support and sustain all these activities.

This is achieved through a permanent staff of seven people, and approximately 200 volunteers serving on council, committees, as branch representatives or as APEGNB representatives to other organizations.

The Association, with offices in Fredericton, has a membership of approximately 4000, which includes all categories (full members, life members, honourary members, abated members, non-resident/non-practising members, engineers-in-training, geoscientists-in-training, university students, licensees, in-province and out-of-province firms).

In addition, all provincial Associations are affiliated through Engineers Canada (formerly the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers), where matters of national and international interest are considered. The affiliation represents approximately 1 57,000 professional engineers across Canada.

The overall effectiveness of APEGNB depends on the combined efforts of its members. Public tolerance of the profession depends on the success of enlightened and responsible engineers and geoscientists in demonstrating accountability rather than monopoly or restriction.