Knowledge Centre

PEO publishes a variety of resources to assist licence holders in their roles and responsibilities, as well as guidance for applicants going through the licensure process.

Resources

Ontario professional engineers are part of a community of more than 87,500 PEO licence and certificate holders committed to enhancing the quality of life, safety and well-being in the province.


As Ontario’s engineering regulator, PEO relies heavily on its volunteers. More than 1,000 professional engineers, engineering interns and non-engineers volunteer their time each year on behalf of the association through their participation.


PEO's mandate, as described in the Professional Engineers Act, is to ensure that the public is protected and that individuals and companies providing engineering services uphold a strict code of professional ethics and conduct.


Online Learning Modules

PEO’s Online Learning Modules provide licence holders, volunteers, staff and applicants with various learning and development opportunities.

Practice Advice Resources and Guidelines

PEO offers a variety of practice advice resources to assist licence holders in providing professional and ethical engineering services.

Frequently Asked Questions

No, if you are not practising—either because you self-declared as “Not practising” or your licence is suspended—you are not permitted to use the licence seal. You should only use the licence seal to stamp engineering documents when you are practising and confirming your responsibility for the work.

Yes, you can use the P.Eng. title when you hold a P.Eng. licence; but you cannot use the P.Eng. title while your licence is suspended.

Your practice status reflects whether you are currently engaged in the practice of professional engineering in Ontario. Two practice status options are available: “Practising” and “Not Practising.” Practice statuses are displayed in your private PEO portal account.

Your licence status reflects whether PEO allows you to practise professional engineering, and there are two licence status options available: “Eligible to practise” and “Not currently eligible to practise.” Licence statuses are displayed on the public-facing PEO directory.

View video describing PEO’s new licence status language

The Professional Engineers Act describes the practice of professional engineering as: “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.” If your work—paid or unpaid—involves any of these elements, you are practising professional engineering.

For engineering work experience gained in Canada, the validator must be a professional engineer (P.Eng.) who was registered during the work period they are validating. For experience gained outside of Canada, it is expected that they will be a senior engineering practitioner.

It is preferred that any validator who is not a P.Eng. and is validating international experience, be a senior engineering practitioner and licensed as an engineer in their jurisdiction. PEO may request information to support their engineering qualifications, which may include proof of academic and engineering credentials, and professional designation during the assessment process.

We are updating the CBA for clarity on this particular point to note that a family member working with a candidate can be a validator. 

Validators should rate competencies in confidence to PEO. Candidate self-assessments and validator ratings are to be submitted to PEO independently. 

Technically, yes. However, you won’t be able to submit an application until you have completed a CBA with at least 48 months of engineering experience.  

Canadian Environment competencies may be obtained abroad. For example, a candidate working for Shell Oil in Nigeria may be using the same American Petroleum Institute (API) engineering standards used in Norway, United States or Windsor, Ontario.