WE’RE GOING TO BE
CIVIL ENGINEERS
Aboriginal Access to Engineering at Queen’s University is committed to increasing the number of Aboriginal engineers in Canada. By promoting math and science to elementary and high school students, supporting the efforts of their teachers, enabling access to post-secondary study, and ensuring young people have what it takes to succeed, we are encouraging more Aboriginal youth like Haven and Oke to become engineers. You can find out more about both our program and engineering at www.AboriginalAccess.ca. Special thank you to the following people for their review of text and suggestions for revising this publication: Duncan Cree, PhD, PEng; Janice Hill; Corinne Mount Pleasant-Jetté; Martin Noël, PhD; and Marisa Sterling, P.Eng (Professional Engineers of Ontario) Special thanks as well go to Oke Maracle and Haven Moses, for keeping it real and sharing their journey with Aboriginal youth! The development and production of We’re going to be Civil Engineers was generously supported by the McLean Foundation.
Produced by Aboriginal Access to Engineering Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science Queen’s University First printing 2014, 2nd Edition 2014 Text ©2013 Melanie Howard Illustration ©2014 Peggy Collins Typeset in Grit Primer, Diffie and Tekton Pro
Hey, I’m Oke.
I might be from the rez, but I like buildings – BIG ones!
I’m Haven.
We’re both studying to be civil engineers. Do you like big structures too? Then take a look at civil engineering with us!
I’m all about bridges
So building things goes way back in my blood, I’m Mohawk, and our people used to build very large structures called longhouses to live in. All of the Haudenosaunee peoples, which some call the Iroquois Confederacy, did this. We also built high fences around the village to keep it safe.
The engineering that went into longhouses is amazing. Can you imagine planning something that had to house your whole clan...60-100 people? With room for everyone to sleep, work and keep things? Longhouses were pretty cool. They had sleeping decks and storage decks built in to the walls, and were built so they could be made bigger by adding on new sections. Fires could stay lit for cooking and keeping everyone warm. INSIDE the building! All this was built with materials provided by our brothers the trees. 
While we stopped living in longhouses a while back, our people became experts in another form of building, the high rise skyscraper.
As they say, Mohawks built Manhattan! Skyscrapers are not made of wood – they use materials like steel and iron. Ironworking became a common job for our people when skyscrapers started to be built. It still is a common job today! Before I started school for engineering, I was an ironworker.
yscraper Building something like a sk that’s takes a lot of planning, and the what I like about it. Picking ild, and materials, planning how to bu to get organizing all of the people the job done.
When planning something, a civil engineer has to think of things like loads and forces. How those things affect the structure is important. They create stress. This was true back in the day of longhouses too.
So a load is something like me sleeping up here on the deck. Engineers have to figure out how to keep the structure up when they have to hold a load. And right above me…all my stuff! There are other loads to consider. Things like wind, rain, snow, and shifting ground will also put stress on a structure.
The weight of people and their things pulls down because of gravity. When things are off the ground, they get pulled back to Mother Earth. This weight causes a force to be applied to the decks of the longhouse and other structures.
Load, force and stress affect all structures. Structures are anything built by people that stay in place.
So not only are buildings like longhouses and skyscrapers called structures, but also bridges, dams, and roads.
What about a play structure?
Oh, hey Wesaks! Didn’t see you there! Yep, a play structure too. You stand on it, hang from it, and it needs to be solid in the ground to be safe.
Another thing civil engineers study are the materials used to build things. Materials have to meet their purpose. Like the fence that went around a Haudenosaunee village …it was made of carefully chosen trees – they were tall and thin. This kept animals and enemies out, and helped to keep the fence tight.
Sometimes materials engineers will work with civil engineers. They think a lot about WHAT we use to build things. Yeah, my house isn’t all made out of wood now. It’s differe nt things like brick and glass an d that plastic siding.
Yep, there are lots of materials that go into a house now. Materials engineers work at making them better. They can be made stronger, lighter, or better for cold and wet weather.
So is that just for houses?
CLOTHES?
No, it’s for almost everything. Materials are used in structures, but they are also used in things that move. Like cars, airplanes, clothes…
Sure clothes. Not your usual clothes, but special materials, like cut-proof and bullet-proof clothes.
What would I even need that for? If you’re a police officer it would be pretty important. Athletes need special materials too.
Huh?
Yeah, check out my new lacrosse stick. It’s made of titanium. That makes it lighter and stronger. It’s easier for me to hold it and less likely to break. Mater ials engineers came up with this idea.
Wow, cool! t What abou ts other spor stuff?
Almost every sport these days that uses equipment will have equipment made out of a material that has been engineered for a purpose.
But let’s get back to buildings…
Hey Wesaks, you know the Stomp Dance?
Oh yeah! Why?
Well, stomp dancing was a way for the Haudenosaunee to prepare to build their longhouse. They did the dance to stomp the ground down and prepare the foundation. Civil engineers think a lot about foundations.
A foundation is what a structure is built on. It makes sure that the structure doesn’t move. There are civil engineers who specialize in foundations for all different kinds of projects.
Just building differen t houses? That sounds easy. We can just STOMP DANCE it dow n!
Not so fast Wesaks. Sure, foundations are needed for houses, but think about other buildings...like skyscrapers and houses with basements. Civil engineers will study the land before building starts. That way they design a foundation that will put up with the load, force and stress of all types of structures.
Even ones that are built in water like bridges! With a bridge, you have to go through water and build a solid foundation at the bottom, right into the ground that’s under the water.
Ooooh right. Hey what about water that’s under the ground? If you make a building and stick in a foundation, what if there’s water underneath?
Hey that’s a good question Wesaks!
s about I think my Auntie know underthat, she talks about time. ground water all the .gea… She works as a hydra… list? something. Hydra-gea-
Hey that’s right, your Auntie is working as a hydrogeologist now. Your Tota told me about that. Hydrogeologists sometimes work with civil engineers, and they study water resources like groundwater. That’s probably what you’re thinking of.
Yeah, ground water. That’s what she calls it. So what about ground water, is it something that’s used in a foundation? Does a hydrogeologist help design buildings? Well, I’m not sure what your Auntie does exactly, but both civil engineers and water resource engineers will often work with a hydrogeologist to help a project along.
Water resource engineers work on ways to make sure the water we get from the ground is safe. They also work on ways to make sure our building activities pollute less. Safe water means clean water, water that doesn’t have things in it that could make people sick. People need water to drink, so water resource engineers will find the right kind of water to use. They will also work on ways to get water where it needs to go. It used to be that people would stay close to a source of water. Now with bigger towns and cities, not everyone can live close to water. A water resource engineer will design the path water will take to get to your house, school or other big buildings.
So Wesaks, here’s a question for you … what do water, air and Mother Earth have in common? Water, air, Mother Earth? Hmmm….they are different parts of the environment?
You’re right! And environmental engineers from many backgrounds can work to protect our environment, with a special focus on protecting water, air and Mother Earth. Sometimes civil engineers will work as environmental engineers.
What? How can that be? Civil engineers figure out how to build stuff! You can’t build the environment, the Creator did that!
That’s true Wesaks, but environmental engineers help to lower the impact of human ac tivity on the environment.
Really? But I try to do that too….I don’t waste water when I brush my teeth…I reuse and recycle a lot. So am I an environmental engineer?!
Maybe one day! It takes a while to become an engineer. 4 years university, and then a few more years as an engineer intern.
Yeah you’re right, Auntie was in school a looooong time.
The Creator gave us beautiful lands. It is our duty to protect them. At the same time, people live on the land in different ways than we did before. We change the natural world in order to create our living spaces. So back in the day, it was longhouses made of wood. We changed the lands by cutting trees and using them to build our home. Now we build homes and structures of all different types. There are many more people on Turtle Island. Because of that, engineers who work on the environment are very important. Environmental engineers will figure out how to treat water so it is safe to drink. They also figure out ways to treat the waste that is created by so many people. Environmental engineers also do planning. They think of how a project will change the environment and how to make the smallest effect. Sometimes dangerous waste is created by a project. Environmental engineers will work on ways to best deal with this waste. By thinking ahead about the end of your project, you can make better choices for the environment before you even begin.
So thinking ahead is a good thing?
Better than not thinking at all! We are all connected through the environment. It’s important to remember our teachings, especially for an environmental engineer.
Okay guys, now I’m thinking about something that’s kind of like environmental engineering and civil engineering together. What about when stuff you build gets washed away by nature? rs That’s enginee not doing their job.
?
Just joking Wesaks….well, a little. Being a civil engineer is a big responsibility. We design things that have to be able to keep people safe. We have to think about things like the environment and how it will affect our buildings. And our people have been doing that for a very long time too.
is this about the stomp dance again? how Heh heh, no….but remember our the stomp dance prepared our foundations ? The design of to structures has to stand up weather.
So remember our longhouse? It had a nice cur ved roof to keep snow off and to help the wind pass over top. And that’s just regular weather! Imagine if you had EXTREME weather… Like big storms? That’s what I was talking about before! and Yep, but even Mother Earth engineers Grandmother Moon can give happen. some trouble. Earthquakes in the The moon makes the waves ter can ocean. Moving earth and wa ! Engineers be very hard on structures they design have to think of that when safe structures.
As Wesaks knows, water is an important part of the environment. Water is the basis of all life on Turtle Island.
But the water is also a way of TRAVELING from one place to another. It’s one of my favourite ways! Our ancestors used the water as their highways to travel across Turtle Island.
When we speak of highways now, we’re not usually thinking of the water. The invention of vehicles meant that infrastructure was needed to support their use. ures? INFR A…what? Struct Yep, structures again! Infrastructure means “below structures”. It is the basic things that are needed to support structures. Civil engineers are all about structures. So infrastructure includes transportation routes – how we get from here to there, not only with water, but using our vehicles. So you m
ean roads
and stuff
?
Yep! Roads, of course, but also all kinds of systems that move people.
A lot of our highways follow old trading routes. Trails had been there long before vehicles were built; they just took longer to travel on. People travel in all kinds of different ways! Civil engineers help them get to where they need to go. Streets, highways, railways, airports, seaports and public transit systems are all designed by civil engineers. They plan the best way to help get people from one place to another. It’s what civil engineers do!
DID YOU KNOW? The Maya, Aztec and Inca cultures built very large cities. Their engineers made many kinds of buildings. There were aqueducts to carry and store water. Tunnels made it easier to get from one place to the next. Roads were also planned to get people around. They even had water systems in place to make fountains!
untain or a river? What about going over a mo . You can’t use roads for that
Whoa… you’re right!
Civil engineers have long known of those problems. They’ve been finding answers to them for a long time too! Did you know that in ancient cities of the Aztecs, they built tunnels? Tunnels go under things to get you from one place to the next. They can even go through mountains, right?
Even culverts have a tunneling aspect to them. They help bring water from one place to another, which lets us build roads or other structures over them. So you can see, there’s a lot of meeting points between civil engineering and nature.
And getting over the water…that’s my favourite part of civil engineering. We design bridges! Bridges can be all different shapes, lengths, and sizes. The bridge needs to be able to cross a space. At the same time, it needs to stay strong enough to support weight. LIKE THIS ONE? I love this little footbridge! It has been here a long time, it must have been designed well!
Foot bridges are a start. Bridges of all shapes and sizes cross water and valleys all over the world. On Turtle Island we have several very famous bridges, like
Golden Gate (Suspension)
Confederation (Post-tensioned Girder)
Quebec Bridge (Cantilever)
Many of the ironworkers on these bridge building projects were Native, you know. We have a long history of ironworking. After my first couple of years as an ironworker, I learned about what civil engineers do. That’s when I changed my mind about what I wanted to be.
On a more serious note, ironworking and building bridges is dangerous work. Before starting work, engineers in Canada can go to a ceremony that’s known as “The Calling of an Engineer ”. There, they receive an Iron Ring. Some say that the rings are made from a beam in the first Quebec Bridge. That bridge collapsed during construction in 1907. It is one of the worst construction failures of all time. Seventy-five construction workers died in the collapse. About half of those people, 33 of them, were ironworkers from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. The Iron Rings aren’t actually made from the wreck of the bridge, but that idea is still important. Mistakes can cost people their lives.
That’s really sad.
wear tle s r e e e lit engin Some n Ring on th g in ro their I f their work re a o finger at way they rk o Th hand. d that the w tant. r e remind is ver y impo o they d
*gulp* Engineers have really stressful jobs then, eh?
I prefer to think of it as challenging - and important. So sometimes it might be stressful, but only because you are trying to do the right thing for people. We are trained through our studies to put people first in any project we design.
That’s the part of civil engineering I like most. It’s called project management. It’s when you take a look at the big picture, from the design all the way through to the end product.
So Wesaks, that’s a little bit about Civil engineering. It’s a pretty big field! No kidding! Buildings…water systems…tunnels…bridges… it’s like, almost everything! So, you think you might be interested in being an engineer someday? Can I design play structures? Sure you can. I’m sure you can design anything you set your mind to.
ing in GOOD! Because I actually DO have someth
mind…
Meet
Oke Maracle &
Oke Maracle is Wolf Clan of the Mohawk Nation, and grew up on Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory in southeastern Ontario. As a high school student, Oke was interested in building and construction, so he enrolled in a diploma program in engineering technology at a college while simultaneously pursuing the trade of ironworking. After finishing his diploma and while on site as an ironwork apprentice, Oke decided he wanted to further his education and become an engineer. “That’s when my past came back to haunt me,” he says with a chuckle. Oke didn’t have the necessary high school prerequisite courses needed to gain entry to an engineering program at university. He was able to complete a transition year program at Lakehead University, after which he enrolled full time in engineering at Queen’s University. “Being here at Queen’s has been pretty intense, in terms of the workload” he admits, “but I wouldn’t have it any other way! I’ve met some great friends like Haven along the way, and am very close to realizing my professional goals.” When Oke isn’t busy studying or continuing his work as an apprentice ironworker, he enjoys playing music and watching both hockey and football.
Haven Moses Haven Moses is a member of Six Nations of the Grand River, and grew up in a town called Wallaceburg in southwest Ontario. At a young age, Haven had a natural talent for building and designing structures… mostly of Lego in those days! In high school, Haven really enjoyed math and physics, which led him to seriously consider engineering for his future profession. “Although engineering studies can be difficult at times, the training involved in becoming an engineer will give you the satisfaction of knowing you have a good work ethic. You can be proud to be committed to a profession with so much responsibility for public safety,” Haven explains. “Practical science with real-world application is very exciting. I encourage youth to learn as much as they can outside of school about science in their everyday life.” When Haven is not busy with studying, he volunteers his time at the Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre on campus where he has served as the fire keeper for moon ceremonies over several years. “Keeping in touch with your community and culture while away at university is important,” says Haven. He also enjoys archery and playing lacrosse, and being out on the land.
GLOSSARY
Ancestors: people from whom a person is descended and who lived many generations ago. Culvert: A drain crossing under a road, sidewalk, etc. Environmental: having to do with the surroundings of something, especially the natural surroundings. Foundation: the natural or prepared ground or base on which a structure rests. Infrastructure: the basic facilities and systems serving an area, such as transportation systems, power plants, and schools. Ironworker: a person who works with structural steel, used in making buildings. Materials: the substance which a thing is made of. Resource: a source of supply, especially one that can be found easily when needed.
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