The founder and current
Chairman of the Ainley Group,
Consulting Engineers and
Planners, Peter William (Bill)
Ainley, P.Eng., was selected as this
year’s recipient of the Beaubien Award
for his lifetime contributions to the
Canadian consulting engineering
industry. He was formally presented
with the award at the Association of
Consulting Engineers of Canada
(ACEC) Canadian Consulting Awards
Annual Dinner, held in Winnipeg,
Manitoba, on October 25, 2003.
The Beaubien Award, which was
originally introduced in 1984, represents
the highest individual mark of
distinction conferred by ACEC. It is
awarded annually to a Canadian consulting
engineer who has served the
profession in an exceptional way
through diligent work within the
Association and by contributing to the
local, national and international community.
The award was named after Dr.
James deGaspé Beaubien, CBE, the
founding President of ACEC in 1925.
Bill Ainley has always been active
in his profession and, in 1982, he was
elected President of the Consulting
Engineers of Ontario (CEO), the
largest provincial member organization
of ACEC.
In 1987, Bill turned his attention to
the international scene when he
responded to the horrors of the
Ethiopian famine. Under the auspices
of HOPE International Development
Agency (a British Columbia-based aid
organization which focuses on water
supply to impoverished, under-developed
countries), he and his wife,
Trudy, embarked on an eight-month
mission to Ethiopia where he organized
the construction of 30 new wells
in remote villages, ultimately providing
clean water for over 40,000 people.
He followed up on this trip with
several other missions, including a
return visit to Ethiopia and a journey
to Cambodia in 1994, where he
advised on the restoration of concrete
control-structures and earth berms
destroyed by agents of the Khmer
Rouge. As recently as 2002, he made
his way back to Cambodia to report on
the Cambodian government’s resettlement
plans for approximately 15,000
slum dwellers in Phnom Penh and, the
year previous, provided technical
advice regarding a rural water distribution
system intended to restore eroded
family farms in the Philippines.
Bill Ainley’s Beaubien Award is,
perhaps, best summed up by David
McKenzie, Executive Director of
HOPE International Development
Agency: “It is with a real pleasure and
sincerity that HOPE International
Development Agency endorses and
commends the work of Mr. William
(Bill) Ainley who has worked with,
and supported, HOPE International for
the past sixteen years. Bill Ainley has
generously volunteered his time and
engineering expertise to help the poor
in Ethiopia, Cambodia and the
Philippines where clean water is only a
dream for many rural families living in
these countries.
“He has been an invaluable asset to
HOPE International’s work with the
poorest of the poor by not only providing
his extensive engineering experience
but also providing his leadership
and management skills. Over the many
years HOPE has known Bill Ainley, we
have grown to appreciate and admire
his passion to provide clean drinking
water, hope and a decent quality of life
to poor families in Africa, Asia and the
Americas. Bill Ainley is an encouragement
and model for all in making our
world a better place”.
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