A case where human rights trumps skills and knowledge

[rwm1273]

http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/sunnews...18-075041.html

EZRA LEVANT | QMI AGENCY

Engineers wear an iron ring on their pinky finger. It's a tradition that began in 1925 to commemorate a terrible engineering disaster.

The massive Quebec Bridge across the Saint Lawrence River collapsed - twice. Once in 1907. And again in 1916. The same bridge.

Eighty-eight people were killed.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry ruled "the failure cannot be attributed directly to any cause other than errors in judgment on the part of... two engineers."

That disaster led to an overhaul in the credentialing of engineers. In Canada, it's now illegal to call yourself an engineer without passing difficult exams, and being subject to the oversight of engineering associations. It's similar to the requirements to call yourself a doctor.

But to Ladislav Mihaly, those rules are just too tough.

Mihaly was born in Czechoslovakia (as it was then known) and immigrated to Canada. He claimed he had two master's degrees from the former Czechoslovakia and worked there as a professional engineer for 25 years. In 1999, he applied to become an Alberta engineer and, like all would-be engineers, was asked to take a test administered by the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA).

He failed.

So he applied to write the exam again, nine months later. This time, he didn't even bother to show up.

Some three years later, Mihaly phoned APEGA and told them he was a really, really good engineer, and asked to be exempted. They invited him to take the test again. And again he failed.

He started doing weird things. In August of 2006, Mihaley wrote an e-mail to APEGA with the subject line, "Do you want to trade." He said he would rewrite Alberta's Fire Safety Codes for free - and if he did a good job, maybe they'd let him be an engineer without taking the test.

APEGA said no. Aren't you glad they did? Don't you wish they had been around when the Quebec Bridge was being built?

So on Aug. 5, 2008, almost 10 years after first applying to write the exam, Mihaly sued.

He didn't appeal to an APEGA review panel. He didn't appeal to a real court. He had no case. And he had no money.

So he did what you'd expect a ne'er-do-well to do: he complained to the Alberta Human Rights Commission, who were thrilled to have a new customer.

Mihaly is not a minority. He's a middle-aged white male from Europe. The exam he kept failing was an engineering exam - about as non-subjective as possible. In fact, almost a quarter of Alberta engineers today are immigrants. They all passed the exam. Mihaly just wanted special treatment.

But human rights commissions aren't called kangaroo courts for nothing. And for the next five years, they ran with Mihaly's case with a vengeance. He didn't even have to hire a lawyer; taxpayers paid for the whole thing.

And earlier this month, the tribunal ruled in Mihaly's favour.

In the Feb. 6 decision, they ruled that it was discrimination to hold foreign-born "engineers" to Canada's professional standards.

They ordered APEGA to pay Mihaly $10,000 in cash. And they ordered APEGA to contact Mihaly's schools back in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, to find out if in fact Mihaly was a good engineer. Not by testing him. But by talking to the schools over there, decades after Mihaly left.

They had to do more, too. They had to convene a panel of foreign-born Alberta engineers to help Mihaly. They had to find him a mentor. They had to help him find networking parties to go to. All this for a man who confessed at the hearing that he was a layabout. He was unemployed for three years and had worked for five years in low-paying jobs that required only a high-school education. He tried running a bakery which failed.

This is a disgrace. But it's not a surprise. It's a human rights commission, not a real court. But it has legal effect. It sets a precedent. Get ready for third-world doctors who fail our exams to cite it to force their way into our hospitals too.

APEGA will appeal. And they will eventually win. But Canada's obsolete grievance-mongering industry will continue to chug along until we rip out these human rights tribunals by the root.

[zabbo]

WOW! Unbelievable, but not surprising, unfortunately.

[Dakota369]

The standards are there for a reason. I have delt with many engineers, and there are good ones, and some not so good, but they all have at least a min level of capability........ this guy, not so much........

Brutal

[Sashi]

This sounds just like "Canada".

[Wild&Free]

his name is out there. any firm that hires him as an engineer deserves the liable settlement he's going to cause for not doing their due diligence.

he doesn't have a leg to stand on, just some letters to put behind his name that insult every real engineer in Alberta.

[Sundancefisher]

It better be corrected. Same situation exists for MD's.

[Rockman]

Total stupidity. I blame f... oh wait, let's not go there.

[connexion123]

Yaay kanada

[Burglecut83]

This is complete and udder bull****

[CheeseBurger]

While I didn't support your gender equality and the need for different sized equipment thread, I wholeheartedly support this one! That's insane that the human rights commission ruled in his favor. I'm sure there are a few ****ed of Albertan engineers...

[Badgerbadger]

'Cause the laws of physics are TOTALLY dependent on human rights....

[calgarychef]

No one has twigged onto the ramifications of this. It means any one from another country can work here with the qualifications of their home country.

Nurses
Doctors
Accountants
Dentists
Etc.

This opens a huge can of worms. With all of the places in the world that a person can "buy" a degree this means that none of our standards are worth anything at all.

[Ice Fishing Maniac]

I was talking about this ruling today with another member off our staff. I hope APEGGA wins the appeal, which they should. This wasn't about discrimination IMO. Human Rights, wow. Talk about lowering our standards now!

This guy was lazy IMO, failed the exams in Alberta...didn't meet the standards set by APEGGA. Was giving a second and third chance to challenge the exams...does a no show on the second time.

It would be no different for a P.Eng from Alberta going overseas and needing to meet the criteria in the counties there.

What kind of precedence does this set now? What about previous immigrants that needed to write and pass the same exams, and possibly go back to school to meet OUR engineering standards, not just Alberta, but across Canada!

[badger]

I thought that discrimination meant applying different standards to different people, I guess not. The guy has failed to meet the same standards that every P.Eng. has met, and his rights are being infringed? Come on!

Since I am a P.Eng (32 years) I read the entire decision. The exam that he failed covers professional practice and ETHICS. Think about that.

If Apegga loses this appeal, the engineering legislation is wiped clean and anyone regardless of training who gets a P.Eng designation will be able to build bridges, approve pipeline weld specs, and add garden hose valves to pressure vessels (Hub Oil). The public will suffer.

I fear for the dilution of safety regulations and the people with no standard of ethics and training who will be responsible for making the decisions on what is acceptable.

[rwm1273]

Here is the ruling:

http://www.canlii.org/en/ab/abhrc/do...2014ahrc1.html

[badger]

Thank goodness the Court of Queen's Bench has overruled the AHRC. Everyone who applies must follow the same standards, there are no special cases where someone can bypass the standards which everyone else must meet.

http://www.apega.ca/news/appeal-miha...sion-succeeds/

[rugatika]

Just think of all the thousands of dollars wasted on this case that the government could have spent on hospitals or schools. For what? A clear loser of a case.

The human rights tribunals need to be scrapped. They are nothing but a drain on taxpayers with no benefit.

[srs123]

for anyone interested in reading the full verdict which also elaborates on what exams he failed see the link below.

Im an engineer and I can tell you that the guy failed the NPPE Exam 3 times in a row. the NPPE Exam is a pretty basic ethics exam and a bit of English. questions range from moderate to too easy.
I passed the exam on my first try just after practicing for two years. this guy is not gonna go anywhere. his name is out there, no one will hire him

http://www.apega.ca/news/appeal-miha...sion-succeeds/