The jurisdiction of the regulation of Engineering in Canada is provincial. Accordingly each province has a law, such as the Professional Engineers Act in Ontario [1], which creates the regulatory association and gives it power to enforce its bylaws under the Act.
The Act is a bit different in each province. The Act for Ontario says
> Offence, use of term “professional engineer”, etc.
>(2) Every person who is not a holder of a licence or a temporary licence and who,
(a.1) uses the title “engineer” or an abbreviation of that title in a manner that will lead to the belief that the person may engage in the practice of professional engineering;
>(b) uses a term, title or description that will lead to the belief that the person may engage in the practice of professional engineering; or
...
>is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable for the first offence to a fine of not more than $10,000 and for each subsequent offence to a fine of not more than $25,000. R.S.O. 1990, c. P.28, s. 40 (2); 2001, c. 9, Sched. B, s. 11 (59).
only if you are using the word engineer in such a way that would lead someone to believe that you are engaging in the practice of professional engineering is it illegal.
The practice of professional engineering also has a definition under the Act:
>“practice of professional engineering” means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the application of engineering principles and concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the environment, or the managing of any such act; (“exercice de la profession d’ingénieur”)
If the activity being performed does not affect safeguarding of life, public welfare, or the environment you are probably off the hook and not leading anyone to believe that you are practicing professional engineering and can use the word engineer in your title and nobody will care.
If the activity being performed could kill someone or damage the environment and you are using the title of Engineer then that is contrary to the act and if something goes wrong and someone wants to file a complaint with the regulatory body against you for representing yourself as an Engineer when in fact you are not then you could be found guilty by the regulatory body's complaints committee.
So it depends what software one is writing does:
Crud app? probably not professional engineering
web site? probably not professional engineering
software that controls a dam spillway? probably professional engineering
software that controls traffic lights? probably probably professional engineering
software that controls a vehicle on a public road? probably professional engineering
software that controls an airplane? probably professional engineering
Thanks for asking the question and prompting me to dig in to this a bit more.
It is not limited to the title of “Professional Engineer”. If the software or activity could harm someone or the environment so the activity matches the definition of “professional engineering” defined in the Act and the programmer or person undertaking the activity is calling themselves anything with engineer in the title and are not a P. Eng then they could be fined under the Act.
In Canada One needs to be careful as to what projects they take on if they are calling themselves anything with engineer in the title.
The Act is a bit different in each province. The Act for Ontario says
> Offence, use of term “professional engineer”, etc.
>(2) Every person who is not a holder of a licence or a temporary licence and who, (a.1) uses the title “engineer” or an abbreviation of that title in a manner that will lead to the belief that the person may engage in the practice of professional engineering;
>(b) uses a term, title or description that will lead to the belief that the person may engage in the practice of professional engineering; or
...
>is guilty of an offence and on conviction is liable for the first offence to a fine of not more than $10,000 and for each subsequent offence to a fine of not more than $25,000. R.S.O. 1990, c. P.28, s. 40 (2); 2001, c. 9, Sched. B, s. 11 (59).
only if you are using the word engineer in such a way that would lead someone to believe that you are engaging in the practice of professional engineering is it illegal.
The practice of professional engineering also has a definition under the Act:
>“practice of professional engineering” means any act of planning, designing, composing, evaluating, advising, reporting, directing or supervising that requires the application of engineering principles and concerns the safeguarding of life, health, property, economic interests, the public welfare or the environment, or the managing of any such act; (“exercice de la profession d’ingénieur”)
If the activity being performed does not affect safeguarding of life, public welfare, or the environment you are probably off the hook and not leading anyone to believe that you are practicing professional engineering and can use the word engineer in your title and nobody will care.
If the activity being performed could kill someone or damage the environment and you are using the title of Engineer then that is contrary to the act and if something goes wrong and someone wants to file a complaint with the regulatory body against you for representing yourself as an Engineer when in fact you are not then you could be found guilty by the regulatory body's complaints committee.
So it depends what software one is writing does:
Crud app? probably not professional engineering
web site? probably not professional engineering
software that controls a dam spillway? probably professional engineering
software that controls traffic lights? probably probably professional engineering
software that controls a vehicle on a public road? probably professional engineering
software that controls an airplane? probably professional engineering
Thanks for asking the question and prompting me to dig in to this a bit more.
[1]: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90p28