APEGGA, Indo-Canadian
Engineers Work Together


Pizza-and-Pop Session on Registration and Mentoring Attracts 75 Members of Edmonton Community

APEGGA On ICE
Top, members of Edmonton’s Indo-Canadian community take in a presentation at the D.A. Lindberg Conference Centre at APEGGA’s office; left, the executive of Indo-Canadian Engineers Association of Edmonton, known by the acronym ICE, pose with APEGGA managers: (from left) Len Shrimpton, P.Eng., Director of Internal Affairs; Nancy Toth, MA, Manager of Professional Development; and Mark Tokarik, P.Eng., Director of Registration.

Through a new organization, Edmonton Indo-Canadians are helping fellow professionals from their homeland make the sometimes difficult transition into a new culture. In July APEGGA added its support to the Indo-Canadian Engineers Association of Edmonton by hosting an information session, in response to a request from the association’s president, Dinesh Gupta, P.Eng.

Mr. Gupta says: “ICE was formed a couple of months ago with the purpose of having Indo-Canadian professional members assist well-educated professionals from their homeland in merging successfully in their new environment.” A good fit, then, was the July 20 pizza-and-pop session on APEGGA’s registration system and new mentoring program.

Initially, ICE’s executive met with three APEGGA managers – Len Shrimpton, P.Eng., Director of Internal Affairs; Mark Tokarik, P.Eng., Director of Registration; and Nancy Toth, MA, Manager of Professional Development. A new APEGGA mentoring pool, which will focus on employment- and career-related skills and career advice, was discussed.

Brochures were distributed to the more than 70 members who attended the seminar. Mr. Tokarik presented on licensure requirements, with extra focus on the particular challenges faced by internationally educated grads. The information generated plenty of interest and questions continued past the formal ending of the seminar.

The evening concluded with Dr. Chinnia Subramanian, P.Eng., secretary of ICE, thanking Mr. Tokarik and other APEGGA staff.

The member number issued to applicants at the time they apply for registration makes them eligible for the mentoring program right away, before the registration process is complete. Some internationally educated grads were ineligible for APEGGA’s first mentoring pool, with its focus on work-related soft skills, because they were not in the workplace.

The new program, however, will assist locally educated grads and those educated abroad in finding employment in their fields. APEGGA is further supporting the program by including a presentation on networking in its member-in-training seminars in October and by offering seminars on interviewing skills in November. Check the website for further details.

Mr. Gupta hopes that APEGGA’s new mentoring program, launched Aug. 31, will facilitate ICE members in their coaching of fellow Indo-Canadian professionals. The ICE president said he also wants APEGGA to continue exploring ways to make the evaluation of academic qualifications as expedient as possible.

Many ICE members are already experienced professional members and very active within the profession. Several, in fact, volunteered to mentor other ICE members. A third of the association membership have applied for registration and another third are still seeking information.

The Professional Development Department will be contacting other associations formed to assist aspiring professionals. This is in keeping with the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers’ recent study and report from, Consideration to Integration, and with APEGGA’s commitment to assisting internationally educated grads in becoming licensed.

MORE INFORMATION

Visit www.apegga.org/members/prof_development.html

Phone Nancy Toth, MA
1-800-661-7020
E-mail ntoth@apegga.org




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