Engineering

Geotechnical engineer Doug VanDine describes his experiences as an employee of a consulting engineering firm, a professor at Queen's University in Kingston, and as a sole practitioner engineering consultant. Drawn to geotechnical engineering by his love of math, science, and the outdoors, he worked in the western Arctic on three projects after completing his undergraduate degree at Queen's University in 1972. He returned to Queen's to earn a Master's degree that included a thesis based on the Drynoch Landslide in British Columbia, and notes that his subsequent career as a sole practitioner engineering consultant "kept coming back to landslides". He taught geotechnical engineering at Queen's for four years, developing two-week summer fieldwork projects that engaged students in the hands-on practice of the discipline. After purchasing the contents of his office at Thurber Engineering for $500, he founded VanDine Geological Engineering. His many projects include pioneering studies on debris flows that led to assessing and developing mitigation strategies for debris flows on the Squamish and Coquihalla Highways in British Columbia. He also served on the Oil and Gas Appeals Tribunal, the Forestry Appeals Commission and the Environmental Appeals Board in British Columbia, and conducted practice reviews and wrote guidelines for the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC. He describes his transition from being a geotechnical design engineer to a researcher and writer of geotechnical engineering history. His first publication gave a history of the Drynoch Landslide in BC, which has been moving for over 6,000 years. He has also researched and published biographies of Robert Leggett, " a father of geotechnical engineering in Canada" and Major Leslie Charles, who located much of the Hudson Bay Railway from The Pas to Churchill Manitoba a century ago.

Cory Jones answers the question “Tell us about the projects you’ve worked on” by describing the impact that completed water treatment and recreation facility have on the First Nations communities that they serve.   He describes his satisfaction to be able to work in an engineering role to help provide such facilities to communities that need them.  In response to the question “Is there anything else you want to say”, he expresses his desire that the Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of Canada can work together to provide help and support for those who need it.

First Nations civil and structural engineer and project manager Cory Jones describes his introduction to engineering practice when, as a high-school student, he was employed by a contractor to help oversee the construction of a water-treatment plant in his home community of Cape Croker, Ontario.  He found summer jobs while an undergraduate student at Western University and joined R. J. Burnside and Associates Ltd.  after he graduated in 1997.  He started as a structural designer of infrastructure, including water treatment reservoirs and buildings, and community arenas and recreation facilities, to be constructed for Indigenous communities across Canada. He is now the President of Neegan-Burnside, an offshoot of R.J. Burnside and Associates Ltd., that designs and manages infrastructure projects for First Nations across Canada. He describes in detail the values held at these two firms as being consistent with those a small family-owned and family-oriented business, and also with his own personal beliefs coming from his indigenous background. He advises high-school students interested in a career in engineering to get practical experiences in construction as summer work, and encourages new engineering graduates to learn from the experiences and knowledge of their senior colleagues at their first engineering job.  He answers the question “Tell us about the projects you’ve worked on” by describing the impact that completed water treatment and recreation facility have on the First Nations communities that they serve.  He describes his satisfaction to be able to work in an engineering role to help provide such facilities to communities that need them. In response to the question “Is there anything else you want to say”, he expresses his desire that the Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of Canada can work together to provide help and support for those who need it.