Innovation Summer 2025

proposed changes. This group included: • Marie-Célie Agnant, author and poet, originally from Haiti, resident of Québec since 1970 • Tom Deer and Joe Deom, representatives from the Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Community, south of Montreal • Chris Hadfield, engineer, author and retired astronaut • Dan Levert, engineer and author • Titilope Sonuga, engineer and poet, Poet Laureate of Edmonton Much of the ceremony’s symbolic items, including the hammer, anvil, and chain will be kept, but the context around them will significantly differ from past ceremonies. Among the most substantial changes are a refocusing on the impacts of the Quebec Bridge collapse and how that tragedy serves as a reminder of the importance of ethical practices in engineering, as well as on the history of Canadian engineering. A land acknowledgement and words from the Mohawk community have also been officially added to the proceedings. “There’s a lot of meaning and significance and tradition,” Shara shared about the new ceremony. “The words that are used today, whether it’s from the Mohawk community, from the land acknowledgement, from the local chief warden, words from poets that we have commissioned, words from Chris Hadfield, words of encouragement in general, plus the oath of obligation make for, we think, a very meaningful ceremony.” Having listened to community feedback and seeing the benefits the new ceremony already is bringing, Shara said “there will always be openings on an annual basis for improvements, modification, and suggestions. This is an open, living, dynamic thing now, and there’s a standing committee on ritual review, so the ceremony will constantly be looked at.” The ceremony modernization makes “a Canadian tradition even more Canadian,” Mahovlich said, “which, in this kind of climate that we’re in right now, is maybe a good thing.”

Engineers and Geoscientists BC Board

member Matthew Salmon,

P.Eng., and CEO Heidi Yang, P.Eng., attend the Iron Ring ceremony in Kelowna on March 22. P hoto : S ubmitted

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Innovation Summer 2025

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