July 2005 ISSUE

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COMPLIANCE

TORONTO MAN JAILED 30 DAYS
FOR REPEATED ACT VIOLATIONS

Editor’s Note: The Compliance Department report begins this month with a news release from Professional Engineers Ontario, an APEGGA sister association. David Todd, P.Eng., Director of Compliance for APEGGA, wants readers to know that those who misuse titles jeopardize self-governance — and risk going to jail.

Mohammad Hafeez is not and has never been licensed as a professional engineer in Ontario. But neither this fact nor a court order stopped him from saying so. The continued lies have now earned him jail time.

Mr. Hafeez of Toronto was jailed for 30 days and ordered to pay costs to Professional Engineers Ontario of $19,863.81, after he was found in contempt of a previous order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice for violating the provincial Professional Engineers Act. The previous order was made Nov. 7, 1995.

The Hon. Madam Justice Sachs handed down the sentence recently in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. Madame Justice Sachs reviewed affidavit evidence on behalf of the application by PEO’s lawyers and heard evidence from Mr. Hafeez in person. She also heard submissions from lawyers on both sides.

The application was brought after an investigation by PEO revealed that in the Spring of 2000, Mr. Hafeez had described himself as a “structural engineer” and an “engineer” to clients and another person while working on a construction project in the City of Toronto.

Under the terms of the 1995 order, Mr. Hafeez was ordered to refrain from using the title “professional engineer,” or an abbreviation or variation, as an occupational or business designation. He was to refrain from using a term, title or description that would lead to the belief that he may engage in the business of professional engineering, and he was ordered to surrender to PEO any business cards, site signs, seals or title blocks in his possession containing the words “professional engineer,” “engineer,” “engineering” or their abbreviations.

The court heard that Mr. Hafeez had previously been convicted on four separate occasions of misrepresenting himself as an engineer while working on various projects in Greater Toronto between April 1993 and June 1998. Fines were levied in the combined total of $85,000.

ACTIVITY REPORT

Editor’s Note: The following statistics track this year’s Compliance Department activity from Jan. 1 to May 31. The department's job is to enforce the right-to-practice and right-to-title provisions of the EGGP Act Part 1. The Compliance Department's focus, therefore, is on individuals and companies that are not members — those which may be, inadvertently or otherwise, holding themselves out as members or practicing the professions illegally.

*Note: Other files were resolved for various reasons such as confirmation that an individual or company is already registered with APEGGA, verification that an individual contacted is not living or working in Alberta, clarification that a company is actually a trade name of a member etc.