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Arrival of the first passenger train in Port Moody, 1886.
Photo Credit: Port Moody Archives
Canadian Pacific Railway
In the mid-1800s, western industrial development had scarcely touched the colony of British Columbia.
(more…)1885 -
Engineering Profession Act
When the Quebec Bridge collapsed during construction – once in 1907 and again in 1916 – engineers from across Canada began a movement to regulate the engineering profession in order to protect public safety.
1919 -
UBC Surveying Students in Great Trek, 1922.
Photo Credit: University of British Columbia Archives, Unknown, [UBC 1.1/2602]
Education and Certification
UBC graduates its first two civil engineering students in 1922, following the passage of the Engineers Act and creation of the Association of Professional Engineers of BC.
(more…)1922 -
Photo Credit: Maclean’s Magazine, April 30, 1955
Engineering Geology
Victor Dolmage, a hardrock geologist with the Geological Survey of Canada, becomes “the first engineering geologist” in BC, leading the geological mapping of a tunnel on Mission Mountain as part of the first Bridge River project for the BC Electric Railway Company.
(more…)1927 -
Courtenay, BC, Damage to interior of Elementary School (left) Port Alberni, BC Damage to the Bank of Monteal (right)
Photo Credit: National Resources Canada
Vancouver Island Earthquake
A large, damaging earthquake strikes off the coast of Vancouver Island in 1946, followed by a more significant quake along the Queen Charlotte islands in 1949.
1946 -
5th and Granville, 1954.
Photo Credit: City of Vancouver Archives, COV-S594-: CVA228-632, Lew Parry Film Productions
Economic Growth
BC enters a period of economic growth based on resource development and export.
(more…)1950 -
Aerial view of finished bridge, 1954.
Photo Credit: City of Vancouver Archives, COV-S594-: CVA228-382
Traffic Volume
Huge growth in BC’s economy, population, and automobile ownership ushered in the modern age of highway building, and an attempt to connect the various isolated parts of the province together by road.
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Photo Credit: Geological Survey of Canada
Rapid Technological Growth
The 1950s and 1960s were a period of rapid technological growth in Canada. Aerial photography and mapping improved significantly during this time period, and geoscientists made increasing use of helicopters, replacing the use of pack horses and canoes.
(more…)1958 -
Students in drafting class with slide rule, UBC, 1940.
Photo Credit: University of British Columbia Archives, Leonard Cox, [UBC 72.1/64]
The Slide Rule
One of the most important tools of an engineer’s trade, the slide rule, reaches peak usage. This mechanical analog computing device was used primarily for multiplication and division, as well as exponents, roots, logarithms, and trigonometry.
1960 -
Jitka Prochazka
Photo Credit: Courtesy of UBC Civil Engineering Department and Alumni UBC
Jitka Prochazka
In 1969, Jitka Prochazka arrived in Vancouver from Prague and became the first woman to study civil engineering at UBC. On one of her first days at school, a secretary suggested that the program would be too difficult for her, and she wouldn’t be able to do it – but Jitka said: “I think I can,” and persevered despite a heavy workload that was made even more difficult by her limited ability to speak English.
(more…)1969 -
Photo Credit: University of British Columbia Archives, Jim Banham, [UBC 41.1/898-1]
Workplace Discrimination
Despite facing opposition and discrimination in the engineering industry, by the late 1970s women began making more significant in-roads into the profession.
(more…)1979 -
Branching Disciplines
Engineering disciplines continue to expand in response to advancements in science and technology.
(more…)1980 -
1986
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Geoscience Regulation
Geoscience officially becomes a regulated profession, after more than ten years of effort to bring about this change in British Columbia, amidst concerns about practice overlap and a lack of oversight over mining resource evaluations.
(more…)1990 -
Division for Advancement of Women in Engineering and Geoscience Executive Committee, 1991.
From left to right: Standing: Joanna Barnard, Marjorie Buckley, Karen Levine, Catherine Roome, Sheri Reed.
Seated: Andrea Zaradic, Jane Hildebrand, Karen Savage.
Missing from photo: Patti Turner, Diane Noble, Nancy Paris-Seeley, Frances Beattie.Women in Engineering and Geoscience
The association commits to helping more women pursue careers as professional engineers, creating a committee to gather information on the issues facing women in engineering.
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Kathleen (Gissing) Kompauer
Kathleen Gissing
In 1992, Kathleen Gissing begins her term as the first-ever woman elected President of the association. Gissing, a civil engineer specializing in concrete construction, was later elected a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada and served on several association committees and branches throughout her career.
(more…)1992 -
“APEGBC has shown consistent leadership in encouraging sustainable practices among its members. By adopting sustainability guidelines, connecting members with resources to apply sustainability principles to engineering and geosciences, and recognizing sustainable projects through the annual sustainability award, APEGBC is proving that we can safeguard the planet while still meeting our needs.”
Minister of State for Climate Action John Yap, looking back on the association’s progress in 2010.
Sustainability Guidelines
The association publishes the first iteration of its Sustainability Guidelines, considered pioneering at the time.
1995 -
Seismic Retrofit Program
The association partners with UBC to assist government with the implementation of a seismic upgrading program for BC schools.
2004 -
Photo credit: Bob, Bridge Ink from Flickr
William R. Bennett Bridge
The William R. Bennett Bridge in Kelowna is completed after three years of construction, replacing the older Okanagan Lake Bridge built in 1958. This floating bridge — one of only nine in the world at the time — linked downtown Kelowna to West Kelowna across Okanagan Lake as part of Highway 97.
(more…)2008 -
Women in Engineering and Geoscience Task Force
The association establishes the Women in Engineering and Geoscience Task Force to identify causes of gender imbalance in the professions, and to make recommendations for how these issues could be addressed effectively by the association. The Task Force presents a final report including 18 recommendations.
(more…)2013 -
Kevin Oke of LlamaZOO Interactive demonstrates MineLife VR, a virtual reality planning tool that helps mining executives and planners visualize complex data in a realtime digital twin of their mine, from drillholes to operations.
Photo credit: Kent Kallberg
The Diverse Fields of Engineering
Technology continues to evolve, and the increasingly diverse fields of engineering and geoscience continue to advance.
(more…)2019 -
Today
