The Iron Ring in Engineering
The consequential history of the Iron Ring, and how to get your own.
If you’ve ever spoken to an engineering student at UVic, or any other educational institution in Canada, you’ve probably gotten tired of listening to them talk about how excited they are for their Iron Ring. It’s likely you might know more about their excitement for the Iron Ring than you do their future career plans. For many Canadian engineering students the Iron Ring is the penultimate marker and validation of their engineering degree and position within the Canadian engineering community, even more so than the degree itself. So what is the Iron Ring and why is it so important?
The Iron Ring is just that, a ring. It’s worn on the little (pinkie) finger on the dominant hand of the engineer, with the idea being as the engineer works and writes the ring scrapes into the paper, a constant reminder. The ring acts as a reminder to the pride, obligations, and ethics surrounding the field of engineering. It’s intended to remind engineers to never sacrifice or compromise their work as a result of external pressures, shirking responsibility, or uncertainty. Given such a great deal of engineering has a monumental impact on the lives of millions of Canadians each day, the ring's message is to take pride and meticulous care in one's engineering work for the sake of everyone.
The idea of the Iron Ring was first developed in 1922 by H. E. T. Haultain, a mining engineering professor at the University of Toronto. He wanted to develop a standard of ethics for developing engineers in light of the Quebec Bridge Disaster in which 75 workers died due to faulty engineering and communication. He began the organisation known as the Corporation of the Seven Wardens, named in honour of the first seven presidents of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineers. Over time this organisation has expanded across Canada and awarded innumerable graduating engineers with their rings and a deep understanding of their responsibilities.
A myth persists that the initial batch of Iron Rings were made from the beams of the collapsed Quebec Bridge, but in reality the initial rings were actually produced by World War I veterans at Christie Street Military Hospital in Toronto.
If you’re an engineering student at the University of Victoria and set to graduate in April, 2022, or if you’ve already graduated and have yet to receive your ring, you can register for the Iron Ring Ceremony to receive your own. For students graduating from UVic, the Iron Ring Ceremony is hosted by Camp 23, of the 27 Iron Ring Camps. The next ceremony will be held March 13, 2022 at 2pm. To register with Camp 23 for the ceremony, and for more information regarding the process of obtaining your ring, you can visit their website.