Registration for the 2025 Engineering Obligation Ceremony

To register, carefully read this page and continue by pressing the button at the bottom.

Registration for the 2025 Camp 3 Engineering Obligation Ceremony (“Iron Ring Ceremony”) is open until February 12th at midnight. Late applications will not be accepted. You will need your correct ring size to register. The registration fee is $40, payable by credit card.

Eligibility

Registration is open to:

Anyone not in these categories may apply for consideration as a Senior Candidate for next year’s ceremonies. Senior candidate applications for 2026 will be accepted starting in November 2025.

Ceremony details

The 2025 Engineering Obligation Ceremony (the “Iron Ring Ceremony”) will be held on 23 March 2025 in the Queen’s University Athletics and Recreation Centre, at 284 Earl St, Kingston. There will be two ceremonies.

The first ceremony will be at 11:30 am, for most Queen’s University students. The second ceremony will be at 2:30 pm, for the remaining Queen’s University students, students of the Royal Military College of Canada, and Senior Candidates. Queen’s University students will be grouped by academic disciplines.

Notification of which ceremony each candidate will be attending, as well as further details, will be provided after registration has closed and we have verified the eligibility of all candidates; this will be in late February or early March.

You may bring a maximum of three guests who are not previously Obligated Engineers to the ceremony. (Depending on demand, there may be space for additional guests.) Guests require tickets and an EventBrite ticket link will be provided to all approved candidates. Tickets are free. You may also bring any number of guests who are previously Obligated Engineers; these guests do not require tickets provided they are wearing their Iron Ring. Due to space limitations, we request that engineers who receive their rings in the 11:30 ceremony not attend the 2:30 ceremony.

If you have questions about the ceremony, please see our answers. If you have further questions that aren’t answered there, please direct them to queens@camp3.ca, rmc@camp3.ca, or seniorcandidates@camp3.ca as appropriate.

Preregistration Information

Please watch the short video below, and read the information that follows it, prior to registering for the Ceremony.

Engineering Obligation Ceremony

The Engineering Obligation Ceremony (formerly the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer) has a history dating back to 1922, when seven past-presidents of the Engineering Institute of Canada attended a meeting in Montreal with other engineers. One of the speakers was civil engineer Professor Herbert Haultain of the University of Toronto. He felt that an organization was needed to bind all members of the engineering profession in Canada more closely together. He also felt that an obligation or statement of ethics to which a young graduate in engineering could subscribe should be developed. The seven past-presidents of the Engineering Institute of Canada were very receptive to this idea.

Haultain wrote to Rudyard Kipling, who had made reference to the work of engineers in some of his poems and writings. He asked Kipling for his assistance in developing a suitably dignified obligation and ceremony for its undertaking. Kipling was very enthusiastic in his response and shortly produced both an Obligation and a Ceremony.

Following a lengthy consultation process, the original Ceremony’s text was replaced in 2025 with a new, modern, inclusive text. The year 2025 also marks the 100th Anniversary of the first Ceremony, held in Montreal in 1925.

The object of the Ceremony can be stated as follows: The Engineering Obligation Ceremony has been instituted with the simple end of directing the newly qualified engineer toward a consciousness of the profession and its social significance and indicating to the more experienced engineer their responsibilities in welcoming and supporting the newer engineers when they are ready to enter the profession.

The Ceremony is administered by a body called The Corporation of the Seven Wardens Inc. The seven past-presidents of the Engineering Institute of Canada in 1922 were the original seven Wardens. The Corporation is responsible for administering and maintaining the Ceremony and in order to do so creates Camps in various locations in Canada. The Ceremony is not connected with any university or any engineering organization; the Corporation is an entirely independent body. The Ceremony has been copyrighted in Canada and in the United States.

The Iron Ring has been registered and may be worn on the little finger of the working hand by any engineer who has been obligated at an authorized Engineering Obligation Ceremony. The ring symbolizes the pride which engineers have in their profession, while simultaneously reminding them of their humility. The ring serves as a reminder to the engineer and others of the engineer’s obligation to live by a high standard of professional conduct. It is not a symbol of qualification as an engineer — that is determined by the provincial and territorial licensing bodies.

There are 28 Camps all across Canada. Camp 3 is Kingston. It is administered by volunteers who serve as Camp Wardens. They conduct the Ceremony yearly, keep records of obligated engineers, and manage ring replacements.