The Ontario Court of Justice at Cornwall fined a corporation and its principal $10,000 for applying a facsimile of a professional engineer’s seal to design drawings without the knowledge or consent of the professional engineer.
6993231 Canada Inc. (d.b.a. Empire Construction) and its principal, Edsel Byers, were retained by a client to assist with the construction of a canvas structure on the client’s property. In preparing design drawings for the client, Empire Construction and Mr. Byers copied a professional engineer’s seal from a previous set of drawings onto the new drawings, without the professional engineer having reviewed the new drawings and without the professional engineer’s knowledge or consent. Empire Construction and Byers then gave the improperly sealed drawings to the client, who submitted them to the Township of North Dundas in connection with a permit application.
On April 26, 2023, Mr. Byers pled guilty to one count of breaching section 40(2)(c) of the Professional Engineers Act and Empire Construction pled guilty to one count of breaching section 40(3)(b) of the Professional Engineers Act in connection with this conduct. His Worship Brian Snyder imposed a $5,000 fine on Mr. Byers and a $5,000 fine on Empire Construction.
Matthew Howe (counsel) and Annecy Pang (student-at-law), both from the Toronto law firm Polley Faith LLP, represented PEO on the matter. PEO would like to thank the Township of North Dundas and the engineer for their cooperation in this investigation.
Professional Engineers Ontario administers the Professional Engineers Act to serve and protect the public interest by licensing Ontario's 85,000 individual practitioners and engineering firms. Professional engineers can be identified by the P.Eng. after their names. When retaining the services of an engineer or engineering firm, the public may search the directories of licensed professional engineers and authorized professional engineering companies at the website www.peo.on.ca. Inquiries regarding unlicensed individuals and unauthorized companies may be made to PEO through its enforcement hotline at 416-840-1444 or 1-800-339-3716 ext 1444 or the e-mail address [email protected].
For additional information or interviews: Duff McCutcheon, Manager, Communications, Professional Engineers Ontario, Tel: 416-797-8175, Email: [email protected].