The Association Aspects of Chemical Engineering in Canada

11 T h e Association Aspects o f C h e m i c a l Engineering i n

Canada

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T. H. G. MICHAEL, The Chemical Institute of Canada, 151 Slater Street, Suite 906, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1P 5H3 This chapter outlines the development of the technical, educational, and professional organizations that have culminated in the present associations. The parallel de velopment of bodies regulating the practice of chemical engineering in Canada is sketched. Similarities to and more significantly the differences from the structures and practices in other countries are pointed out. References are made to some of the more significant personalities asso ciated with these developments.

he history of the development of chemical engineering organizations in Canada follows two separate if interrelated paths. These relate to the so-called professional organizations, and the so-called technical or scientific ones. For lack of more precise definitions, we may consider the technical societies as those that are concerned primarily with the transfer of technical and scientific knowledge and information. The professional associations are concerned with the status of the practitioner, his relation to government and the public, and his qualifications to practice. The same distinction is found in many of the professions, and is not peculiar to engineering or chemical engineering. The following discussion is perhaps of primary interest to students of the field in countries other than Canada, since most of the general patterns are known to Canadian chemical engineers, and to science his torians. However, it is easy to overlook even recent history, and some of the points mentioned may be of more general interest. Chemical engineering is of course one of the subdisciplines of en gineering. As such, it is subject to any regulations governing the en gineering profession that may be in force. In Canada the situation is somewhat complex. A

0-8412-0512-4/80/33-190-199$05.00/l © 1980 American Chemical Society Furter; History of Chemical Engineering Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1980.


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HISTORY O F C H E M I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G

The Canadian constitution is known as the British North America A c t , passed by the British parliament. It took effect in 1867. One of the main features of this act was that it assigned responsibility for certain areas to the federal government and others to the provincial govern ments, of which there are now ten. A n important area assigned to the provinces was labor relations. This has been interpreted to include responsibility for the regulation and governance of the professions. As a result of this, each of the ten provinces has passed legislation providing for the regulation of the engineering profession. Generally these acts establish an Association of Professional Engineers, essentially self-governing, and requiring that i n order to practice engineering, an individual must be a member of the association. The earliest of these associations, that i n N e w Brunswick, was formed in 1920. The majority of the governing bodies of these associations are elected by the member ship, and a minority are appointed by the provincial government. Certain exemptions to the membership requirement are provided. The most important of these is that persons teaching engineering are not required to be members. But in general, any person who is practicing engineering, who calls himself or herself an engineer, or who signs engineering drawings or reports must be a member of the association. In la province de Québec, the governing association is known as L ' O r d r e des Ingénieurs du Québec. It is one of 24 professions that are subject to the Québec Professional Code, and is likewise a member of the Interprofessional Council. It is noteworthy that apart from certain "grandfather" and transient provisions, L'Ordre des Ingénieurs requires proficiency i n the French language as a requirement for its members. The provincial associations and L'Ordre are all members of the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers. This was formed to provide a mechanism for consultation between the provincial organizations, and to enable joint action when necessary. One such important joint action was the formation of the Canadian Accreditation Board. This board establishes and maintains the academic levels required for membership in the provincial bodies. It has been able to maintain uniform standards across Canada and thus has ensured that acceptable graduates from any Canadian university engineering faculty may to able to join any provincial governing body. The provincial bodies that have been discussed are concerned with professional matters, the control of the profession, and educational re quirements insofar as they affect entry into the profession. They are not concerned with the continuing transfer of technical knowledge and infor mation. This is traditionally the function of the technical, scientific, learned, or publishing societies. In Canada, the Engineering Institute of Canada was founded i n 1887 to perform these functions for engineering. Initially formed by civil engineers, its outlook and emphasis were primarily directed to serving

Furter; History of Chemical Engineering Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1980.


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civil and mechanical engineers. The engineering institute made at tempts to provide technical programming for the emerging subdisciplines of the engineering field. However, in Canada the needs of the prac titioners i n these fields were met in two ways. The first was by American and British organizations forming Canadian or local chapters. Conspicuously successful in this way were the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, one of the forerunners of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). The second way was the formation of indigenous Canadian special ized engineering organizations, often related to resource industries. Perhaps the two most successful of these are the Canadian Institute of M i n i n g and Metallurgy ( C I M M ) and the Technical Section of the Cana dian Pulp and Paper Association (CPPA). Both of these attract a con siderable membership of chemical engineers who are working in their respective fields. The C I M M founded in 1898, originally was concerned with the technical and related aspects of the mining industry. Because of the nature of the exploited Canadian geology, it primarily was inter ested i n the Laurentian Shield surrounding Hudson's Bay, and also in the mining conditions and problems in the Western mountain regions. More recently, the extraction of petroleum, principally in Alberta, has led to a great deal of interest in the engineering aspects of well drilling, pipe lining, and refining. The C I M M formed a subsidiary organization, the Petroleum Society, to concentrate on this field. Naturally it includes many chemical engineers among its members, and provides programming services i n these subjects, but particularly in Alberta. C P P A is primarily a trade association of that part of the forest products industry producing paper and its intermediates. This is an industry of great concern and value to Canada. Tremendous stands of timber are found i n most provinces, particularly in British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and three of the four Atlantic provinces. The pulping process and the formation of paper are chemical engineering operations. Probably because of the lack of a suitable medium for the exchange of technical information i n its field in Canada, the C P P A formed the Tech nical Section in 1915. It has maintained an active information transfer program ever since. Chemistry and chemical engineering always have been closely related, i f not inseparable. The first chemical engineers, although not described i n that way, were chemists who found themselves in charge of plant processes and who had to obtain satisfactory process equipment, and manage the reactions to be efficient and economical. Gradually specialized education was developed to meet the need, and the chemical engineer was born. As we have seen from other chapters in this volume, chemical engineering came to be a recognized subdiscipline of engineering.



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In the late years of the 19th Century, Canadian universities com menced giving courses i n applied chemistry, as contrasted to "pure" chemistry. These gradually evolved into the chemical engineering courses that we know today. In an attempt to meet the needs of the practitioners i n this budding field, the Engineering Institute soon set up a Chemical Engineering Division, but by and large its activities were lost among the Institute's other areas of activity. The Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) is an international organiza tion, based in Britain, and devoted to furthering all aspects of the chem ical industry. The Society encouraged the formation of overseas sec tions, and the first one in Canada was established in 1902 in Toronto. This was followed rapidly by the establishment of sections or branches in Montreal and Ottawa, and in Vancouver in 1917. These organizations held their own separate meetings until 1918, at which time a joint meeting was held in Ottawa, being the first Canadian Chemical Con ference. These sections provided opportunities for chemical engineers and others to exchange information and ideas, and made the publications of the S C I available to their members. In 1921 the Canadian Institute of Chemistry (CIC) was incorporated, primarily to meet the professional and scientific needs of chemists. However, from the earliest days many chemical engineers took an active part in it, and its programming reflected this. B y the m i d 1940's the S C I sections and the C I C , together with a more amorphous body known as the Canadian Chemical Association, were questioning the need for three independent organizations in the field, and eyeing the probable increased effectiveness and efficiency and the influence of a single larger body. The result of mature consideration and negotiation was the formation of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1946. This Institute was designed, and enjoined in its Charter to further the professions and the sciences of chemistry and chemical engineering. It is interesting to note that although the three pre-existing organ izations amalgamated their activities into the new Institute, the Society of Chemical Industry in Canada coalesced to form one Canadian Section, in order to maintain and continue its awards program. This it has con tinued to do to this day. One of the first actions of the newly formed Institute was to establish the Chemical Engineering Division. This was the beginning of the present organizational activity of chemical engineers as such in Canada. The Division from the first showed great activity. Under the dynamic leadership in its early years of such chemical engineers as Lyle Streight, A d o l f Monsaroff, R. R. McLaughlin, I. R. McHaffie, G . W . Govier, and J . D . Leslie, it established an annual Canadian Chemical Engineering Conference. The first, held in 1951, attracted a substantial attendance and set the stage for a continuing successful series. The most recent, the 33rd, was held in Sarnia in 1979. At intervals along the way, the 18th


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incorporated the well-remembered Tripartite Conference in Montreal in 1968, and the 23rd was the equally well remembered Joint Conference with A I C h E i n Vancouver in 1973. It soon was realized that a technical-scientific journal was a require ment for a growing society, in a period of rapid expansion of research, development, and production. The new Institute already had set up a news journal, Chemistry in Canada, in 1949, but a specialized chemical engineering journal was required. The result was the establishing of the Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering in 1957. It continued in this new style, the former Canadian Journal of Technology, a specialized part of the Canadian Journals of Research series, published by the National Research Council of Canada. While facing the problems common to all such journals the C J C h E is prospering, and is producing Volume 57 in 1979. Since its establishment in 1957 the editorship has been held by four eminent Canadian chemical engineers—W. M . Campbell, Albert Cholette, G . L . Osberg, and L . W . Shemilt. The Chemical Engineering Division did not only look toward meet ing the needs of its own members, but it also looked outward. The C I C , on behalf of the Division, was one of the early supporters, and took a very active part in the formation of the Interamerican Chemical Engineering Confederation. This organization is major attempt to organize and meet the needs of chemical engineers in the Latin American countries. Along with the A I C h E , the Canadian organization has contributed greatly to the organization, continuity and financial stability of the I C E C since 1962. It gradually became evident that the status of a division within the C I C d i d not represent properly the needs, membership, and activities of the chemical engineers. After careful planning, a major evolutionary step was taken i n 1966 with establishment of the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE) as a constituent society of the C I C . As a constituent society, it has almost complete autonomy and freedom of action, and at the same time access to all of the programs, activities, and services of the Institute as a whole. The C S C h E is represented on the governing bodies of the C I C . As a result of the changes in structure effected in 1978, that representation and influence have been increased significantly. N o apology is needed to conclude this chapter with some thoughts as to possible trends or patterns in the future. The pressures for public accountability w i l l force the provincial professional governing bodies to consider the public interest as increasingly important, compared with the interests of the individual. The growing doctrine of individual account ability for all actions, as opposed to the tradition of corporate account ability, w i l l cause the individual chemical engineer to examine every action that he takes in the light of this doctrine. The growing concern over the environmental effect and impact of chemical operations will cause the practicing chemical engineer to consider these effects in even


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greater depth. The probable result of these factors w i l l be a growing dependence by the chemical engineers on their technical and professional organizations.


R E C E I V E D January 2 8 , 1 9 8 0 .


The Association Aspects of Chemical Engineering in Canada

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