Innovation Summer 2025

engineering. However, as aqueduct construction began in 1914, the original Ojibwa village of Shoal Lake 40 First Nation was displaced and moved to a man-made island. Shoal Lake 40 First Nation and the nearby Iskatewizaagegan #39 Independent First Nation suffered irreparable harm in the process. Retool the Ring and other proponents of updating the Calling of an Engineer ceremony emphasized the need for more inclusivity, especially towards women, as well as Indigenous populations who have played major roles in engineering projects across the country. Kimberley Brown, P.Eng., is a member of the Lax Kw’alaams Band in the Tsimshian territory spanning BC’s northwest coast. She received her iron ring in 2019. A graduate of UBC, she remembers reflecting on how many of her cohort had parents or grandparents bestow their rings to them; only an obligated engineer may present a new obligant with their ring. “My grandfather wouldn’t have been able to attend university as an Indigenous person in his youth,” she said. “It highlighted why there are so few senior Indigenous engineers. Those opportunities were not available to them at the time. It also highlighted how much engineering is knowing someone in the business.” Brown explained that it was friends’ parents or family members who helped them get co-op jobs, as the network-based opportunities were limited for Indigenous engineering students. In November 2022, two-and-a-half years after the Camp 5 Wardens were removed from their posts, the Corporation of the Seven Wardens announced a national effort to review the ceremony. Barry Levine, P.Eng., is one of the seven wardens of the national corporation. He led the two-year “listening tour” the corporation undertook to better understand the issues being raised. “We collected a lot of information from recent candidates, past candidates, from wardens, from engineering educators and deans, and then these groups [like Retool],” Levine said. “We really wanted to understand what is it that you don’t like about it? What do you like about it? What are the pros and cons and what do we need to focus on?” A work in progress The result of that work has been a new ceremony that honours the values of the original ritual. Kipling and his ceremony were “a product of his time,” Levine said. “We weren’t going to apologize for that, but what we did say, though, is that times have changed.” The corporation commissioned two new poems – one in English and the other in French – to replace Kipling’s words. Meanwhile, a diverse group representing various segments of Canadians reviewed the ceremony and

Engineers and Geoscientists BC CEO Heidi Yang, P.Eng., from left, Michelle Mahovlich, P.Eng., P.Geo., Chief Warden of Camp 23, and Camp 23 Warden Tim Rutley, P.Eng., attend the ceremony in Victoria April 27. Rutley, at 91, is the sole remaining member of the original Camp 23 formed in 1989. P hoto : S ubmitted

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Summer 2025

Innovation