2006 Ontario Professional Engineers Awards

Spectacular evening celebrates best of the profession

Last November, the engineering profession in Ontario came together to celebrate their best at the 2006 Ontario Professional Engineers Awards. Held at The Carlu in downtown Toronto, the spectacular evening drew over 450 attendees, including representatives from government, industry and all areas of the profession. The event, which included for the first time the Engineers Art Show and Sale, celebrated the achievements of ten outstanding professional engineers.

Co-hosted by Daniel J. Young, P.Eng., OSPE President and Chair and Walter Bilanski, P.Eng., PEO President-elect, the night also included remarks by the Hon. David Caplan, Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Renewal and Dr. Alastair Glass, Deputy Minister of Research and Innovation, sponsor of the evening’s top Award, the Gold Medal.

“Thank you for the jobs that you do, the jobs that you create and for the partnership that you and your profession have engaged in with us as we work towards renewing the critical infrastructure here in the province of Ontario,” said Minister Caplan to the crowd. “It is right that we come together in this kind of fellowship to recognize individuals who are doing that and recognize their achievements.”

Attendees also heard from keynote speaker George Roter, Co-CEO of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) who spoke about how engineers are making a difference throughout the world as volunteers with EWB. “Canadian engineers are committed to serving humanity and are passionate about driving social change both within Canada and abroad,” he said to the captivated audience.

Mr. Roter went on to say that as engineers "our fact-based approach and our problem-solving skills are valuable to addressing extreme poverty in the world and when we look back at history we will be able to say that we as a profession came together to make poverty history.” His remarks received thunderous applause and garnered one of several standing ovations of the evening.

(From left) PEO President-elect, Walter Bilanski, P.Eng., Citizenship Award recipient, Mervin Dewasha, P.Eng., OSPE President and Chair, Daniel Young, P.Eng. and Sharon Glover, OSPE CEO.	Keynote speaker, George Roter, Co-CEO EWB talks about the exceptional volunteer work of Ontario engineers throughout the world.	(From left) Phillip (Rocky) Simmons, P.Eng., Entrepreneurship Medal recipient, Helen Wojcinski, P.Eng., Citizenship Award Recipient and Denis Turcotte, P.Eng., Management Medal recipient.

Presented by OSPE with the support of gala partner Professional Engineers Ontario, the Awards recognize outstanding individuals for their engineering excellence and community service. OSPE would like to thank all of the gala sponsors and table hosts for their support and for making the 2006 gala a night to remember.

Attendees celebrate the artistic side of the profession at the Engineers Art Show and Sale.	(From left) Young Engineer recipient, William Melek, P.Eng. talks with Rob Robinson from Manulife Financial a gala sponsor.	Engineer Artist Roy Taylor, P.Eng., talks sculpture with an attendee.

Find out more about the 2006 Awards Gala>>>

View the 2006 Awards Globe and Mail Supplement>>>

Call for Nominations 2007
If you know an engineer that is deserving of one of these prestigious awards please contact us at events@ospe.on.ca to find out how to submit a nomination.