The Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) is a not-for-profit corporation originally founded in 1887 under the name “Canadian Society of Civil Engineers” (not to be confused with today’s CSCE which is the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering). At the time, the reference to “civil engineers” was chosen to differentiate the society’s members from “military engineers”. The original society name was changed to the Engineering Institute of Canada in 1918 to reflect the diversity of engineering it represented as a learned society.
From 1887, the EIC’s membership was made up of engineers of various disciplines of mechanical, civil, geotechnical, chemical and electrical engineering. Starting in 1970, subgroups decided to incorporate as independent societies that also remained as EIC Constituent societies. Hence started the slow transition to what the EIC officially became in 1986: a federation of technical societies. Since then, the EIC does not offer individual memberships. To belong to the EIC “family”, and qualify for EIC Awards, one must join at least one of its 14 constituent societies in the federation. Currently, 30,000 Canadian engineers and engineering students belong.
The Mission of the EIC is to:
- Recognize excellence of members of constituent societies by awarding senior engineering medals and inducting Fellows at an annual Awards Gala.
- Assure excellence in continuing education by accrediting learning providers to issue continuing education credits (CEUs) or equivalents to engineering professionals.
- Preserve engineering history and archives.
- Run a career site (job board) specialising on engineering-related jobs.
- Organise series of national conferences on topics of interest to Canadians and a broad spectrum of the engineering community: e.g. Climate Change Technologies, Sustainable Development of the North.
- Manage the EIC Fund, a registered charity (see below).
- Provide administrative services to member societies; e.g. CSME and CSEM.
The EIC does not get involved in regulatory matters. The latter is the purview of Engineers Canada and its provincial/territorial licensing bodies.
The EIC FUND
The EIC FUND, the charitable arm of the EIC, plays a meaningful role in furthering the Engineering Institute of Canada’s long history of initiatives to foster and advance engineering knowledge and causes in Canada. Its primary aim is to support the recognition of excellence and the advancement of engineering and engineering education in Canada. It is a registered Canadian charity and donations to it can be acknowledged with an official receipt.
In order to fulfil and enhance the value of the goals and work of the Institute, the EIC FUND:
- Upon requests, provides $1K sponsorship of annual conferences of EIC constituent societies at which recent engineering advancements are presented.
- Financially assists other initiatives proposed by members of EIC Constituent Societies and endorsed by said societies, and whose objectives serve the purposes of the Institute in innovative ways.
- Donates to specific organizations that foster an interest in engineering on the part of youth (e.g., Youth Science Canada, the Canadian Engineering Memorial Foundation, CDA Scholarships and EPIC Award for Excellence Scholarships).
- Operates a quality assurance program that recognizes excellent providers of continuing engineering education and professional development. These providers commit to internationally-recognized process standards for the delivery of their courses as a condition for issuing EIC-accredited Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or their equivalents.
- Annually recognizes outstanding engineers from amongst the members of the EIC Constituent Societies with Fellowships and Senior Medals at a prestigious awards gala.
- Recognizes outstanding Canadians who have influenced the engineering profession by installing them as Honorary Members of the EIC.
Decisions on uses of the EIC FUND are made by the EIC Council (whose members are its trustees). Only EIC Constituent Societies and their active members may apply for funding from the EIC FUND. To apply, applicants must submit a completed grant application (see form attached) directly to their own Constituent Society, which shall review such requests and, if found suitable, recommend them to the EIC Council.
Sustaining membership dues directly support EIC Fund activities. If your organization is interested in joining the ranks of EIC Sustaining Members, please contact Executive Director Guy Gosselin.
If you simply wish to make a donation to the EIC FUND or to one of the specific programs administered by the FUND (e.g. EIC Awards Gala or CDA Scholarships), please click on the button below and select the specific FUND program to which you wish to donate (in the drop-down menu). Or, simply mail a donation cheque addressed to the EIC FUND, P.O. Box 40140, Ottawa, On K1V 0W8, identifying a specific program as needed. A charitable receipt will be issued.
EIC SUSTAINING MEMBERS
EIC Constituent Societies
