Message from the President

Melanie Siewert, P.Geo. (Limited)

Greetings to my fellow geoscientists!

As President, it is my privilege and honour to provide this annual address. It is at this time that we traditionally look back at all that the PGO, its staff and the many volunteers that support the PGO have accomplished. We have made significant progress in many areas. This year, we also see the conclusion to PGO’s 2020-2022 Strategic Planning Cycle with the beginning of the new one already underway, so it is a good time to look back at our accomplishments of the past few years in strengthening the PGO as a trusted regulator.


Reduction of Illegal Practice

The PGO continues to employ a combination of education and enforcement measures to reduce unauthorized and illegal practitioners. In February 2022, the PGO removed barriers to incidental practice in Ontario by introducing a streamlined process for registration for Incidental Practice. This option allows geoscientists registered in other jurisdictions across Canada to legally work short-term in Ontario. PGO is proud to offer this option in the hopes that it will encourage greater mobility of practice across Canadian jurisdictions while also reducing illegal practice. In the short term, we hope this option will reduce illegal practice while the PGO, supported by our partners at Policy Concepts, continues to engage government regarding our request for amendments to the Professional Geoscientists Act that will strengthen the PGO’s enforcement efforts.


Governance Structure

To further our goal of being a trusted regulatory leader, the PGO has worked tirelessly over the past few years to conduct an internal review of our governance and regulatory practices. We have made significant progress in improving governance documents and practices. Following a series of internal reviews, the PGO has refined bylaws, committee terms of reference and the council governance manual and strengthened council orientation, training and performance monitoring. These changes are being made in the spirit of continuous improvement and with the objective of better aligning with constantly evolving best management practices for self-governing organizations. It is expected that this evolution will continue in coming years with further improvements and efficiencies in several critical areas. These improvements will strengthen PGO’s role of protecting the Ontario public and create clarity and efficiencies with our processes involving you, our registrants.


Diversity, Inclusion and Education

In 2020, we committed to making the PGO a diverse and inclusive organization and wasted no time in putting this commitment into action. The Diversity & Inclusion Committee was formed and ratified as a standing committee, published a position statement on Diversity & Inclusion as it relates to geoscience, developed and implemented an awareness and training program for PGO staff, council and volunteers, published the results of their Diversity & Inclusion registrants survey, and furthered the discussion by integrating Diversity & Inclusion topics in PGO sponsored continuing professional development (CPD) events.

In the past year, CPD opportunities offered by the PGO included our Annual Symposium, which offered presentations and panel discussions on climate change, communication, Qualified Persons and reconciliation. Online courses were made available to registrants including Practical Geocommunication and 4 Seasons of Reconciliation Indigenous Awareness. I encourage all PGO registrants to take advantage of these informative short courses – it is not too late!


Registration and Growth

In the past three years, the PGO has continued to see a steady increase in the number of full, limited, and non-practicing PGO registrants. There has also been a modest increase in the number of Geoscientist-in-Training (GIT) registrants and the Acting Registrar and the Registration Committee continue to process change of designation applications to progress GITs to full practicing PGO registrants.

During this time, there has been a decline in student enrolment in University Earth Sciences programs across Canada. The PGO, as a professional regulator, actively maintains relationships with Ontario universities to encourage alignment between their program offerings and the minimum knowledge requirements for P.Geo. registration. Over the past few years, the PGO maintained student outreach events with universities across the province using a virtual platform; however, a fresh round of in person events were conducted this fall, each hosted by regional councillors in tandem with PGO staff. The PGO has also ramped up its student outreach activities by delivering additional information sessions held virtually and targeting students and Geoscientists-in-Training with live Q & As led by PGO’s Acting Registrar.

Finally, I must extend a sincere gratitude to the diligence and professionalism of our PGO staff: Marilen Miguel as Director of Stakeholder Relations, Eilidh Lewis as Acting Registrar, Sherin Chopra as Administration & Operations Manager, Florentina Groza as bookkeeper, and Tony Andrews at the helm as Executive Director and CEO. I would also like to welcome our newest staff member, Gabrielle Hosein who recently joined the PGO as Assistant Registrar. This dedicated group, along with the more than 100 volunteers they support, govern the practice of professional geoscience by nearly 3,800 registrants in Ontario. The strength of the PGO comes from its people!

On behalf of the PGO, thank you for your commitment to your profession and upholding the integrity of the geoscience profession.


Melanie Siewert, P.Geo. (Limited)
President
Professional Geoscientists Ontario