I sit here at my kitchen table attempting to craft my first president’s message, all the while stressed about a looming health threat that plagues many: helping kids with their French.
Our mandate as engineers and geoscientists is to protect the public and previewing the topics in this issue, I am filled with pride in my profession, my colleagues and the Association.
Engineers and geoscientists play an integral part in mitigating the fallout from COVID-19. As you will read, we maintain clean air inside buildings, provide stable utilities in the face of massive demographic shifts and provide ethical leadership at all levels of the private and public sector, to name just few examples.
I am excited APEGS has risen to the occasion more times than I can possibly squeeze into these 478 words. Thanks to COVID-19 we have had the “opportunity” to test the first teleconference council meeting, research and implement remote office technologies and shift our governance plan reviews in the span of a month.
I cannot thank the staff and volunteers enough for the flexibility they have displayed in getting used to the new normal and I ask the public and our members to show patience during this time of remote operations and distance meetings.
Even in this topsy-turvy climate, we can still find some amazing things to celebrate. Our annual award winners have been profiled in The Edge and their achievements in engineering and geoscience warrant mention. I look forward to our autumn annual meeting where we can celebrate the amazing work they have performed on behalf of our professions.
Big challenges lie ahead, but I am confident in our new 2020-2021 council to make the right decisions that help the public through these tough times. I expect that our upcoming council and executive meetings will focus on how the association can and will respond to emerging regulatory issues associated with COVID-19.
This edition highlights how engineering and geoscience give vast amounts of time and energy to protect the public. To further these ends, I would like to speak to a personal goal for APEGS. Few may know this, but I volunteered for council for a very specific reason: I was curious about the mysterious inner workings of the association.
Once on council, I now better understand why APEGS makes the decisions it does and I want the public and our membership to have the same insight and confidence that I do. If we do a great job describing the “why”, I am confident people will trust the “what” when it comes to us acting in the public interest.
P.S. Being stuck at home affords members time to sharpen their tools and gather CPD credits. Check the APEGS website for our second self-paced ethics module, and if you made it this far reading, you can already claim approximately one and a half minutes of informal credits. Woot!