INNOVATION-May-June-2020

D I S C I P L I N E A N D E N F O R C E M E N T

DISCIPLINARY NOTICE: GINGER ADA ROGERS, CALGARY, ALBERTA Engineers and Geoscientists BC issued a Notice of Inquiry to Ginger Ada Rogers, in September 2019, regarding her conduct related to geoscience services she provided with respect to soil testing data submitted to Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) in the 2015 Annual Industrial Wastewater, Industrial Runoff and Waste Management Report (the 2015 Report) submitted by Ms. Rogers on behalf of a meat processing company. A disciplinary inquiry was held on November 25, 2019. On December 9, 2019, a panel of the Discipline Committee (the Panel) concluded that Ms. Rogers demonstrated unprofessional conduct by knowingly submitting falsified soil testing data to AEP and, more specifically, by knowingly using soil testing data from a prior report in the 2015 Report, making it appear as though parameters were not exceeded and that the meat processing company could continue to discharge wastewater on land through irrigation, when in fact the parameters had been exceeded, and the meat processing company would not have been permitted to discharge the wastewater had the accurate data been provided to AEP. The Panel also found that Ms. Rogers pleaded guilty and was convicted in Alberta of violating section 227(a) of the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. E-12 in relation to the same conduct at issue in the hearing. In addition, the Panel found that her conduct was contrary to Principle 1 of Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s Code of Ethics, which requires that all members and licensees shall hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public, the protection of the environment and promote health and safety within the workplace. In making their determination, the Panel considered “the evidence presented by the Association, in which Ms. Rogers has admitted to and has pled guilty to providing falsified information in a report to Alberta Environment and Parks”. The Panel found that “this is a marked departure from the standard to be expected of a competent professional”.

In response to the allegation that Ms. Rogers’ conduct was contrary to Principle 3 of the Code of Ethics, which requires that all members and licensees provide an opinion on a professional subject only when it is founded upon adequate knowledge and honest conviction, the Panel found that “no evidence or argument has been presented that [Ms. Rogers] provided an opinion based on [the falsified] data, nor that any such opinion was in contravention of Principle 3”. Accordingly, the Panel found that this allegation had not been proven. Ms. Rogers, although served, did not attend the disciplinary hearing and did not offer a defence. On March 23, 2020, the Panel issued their Decision and Order on Penalty and Costs, and ordered the following penalties against Ms. Rogers: Her membership with Engineers and Geoscientists BC is suspended from the date of this determination until March 29, 2022. The end of the suspension will coordinate with the suspension of membership imposed in March, 2019, by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA). She is required to complete the Professional Engineering and Geoscience Practice in BC Online Seminar and pass the Professional Practice Exam prior to reinstatement of her membership. Within 12 months of reinstatement of her membership, at her expense, she must undergo a general practice review and if required, a technical review. Ms. Rogers was ordered to pay $20,826.89 toward the legal costs incurred by Engineers and Geoscientists BC. In making this Order, the Panel took into consideration a fine imposed on Ms. Rogers by APEGA, the fact that she did not participate in Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s disciplinary process, and the fact that she is no longer practising geoscience. The full text of the Determination of the Discipline Committee and the Decision and Order of the Discipline Committee on Penalty and Costs can be found in the Discipline Notices section of our website, at egbc.ca/Discipline-Notices .

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