Competency validators: who qualifies and how many you need
A validator is someone with direct knowledge of the work in an example who confirms it and rates it. Each competency gets exactly one validator everywhere. Beyond that the rules differ: Alberta needs at least three validators assigned, the shared system needs at least four named who together cover four years, and Ontario and Alberta set licence rules for work done in Canada.
The rules by regulator
| Rule | Ontario | Alberta | Shared system |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validators per competency | One | One | One |
| Minimum number | None stated | 3 assigned to competencies | 4 named, covering 4 years |
| Canadian work | P.Eng. in Canada, licensed when the work was done | Category 1: P.Eng. registered in Canada | Ideally a P.Eng. or equivalent |
| Work outside Canada | Senior practitioner licensed where they practise | Category 1: licensed, or an equivalent practitioner | Ideally a P.Eng. or equivalent |
| Family members | Case by case | Not accepted | Not addressed in the guide |
| A supervisor among them | Preferred | Preferred | Required |
Sources: Professional Engineers Ontario Applicant and Validator Guides (August 2026); APEGA CBA guide version 7.4 (18 July 2026); Engineers and Geoscientists BC Competency Assessment Guide (April 2024). APEGA also lets some other licensees, such as a US professional engineer, be considered when their practice matches your example, and asks validators without a Canadian licence to send a resume.
Choosing validators
Closeness beats seniority. Ontario's guide says the closer a validator worked with you, the stronger the application, and Alberta warns that an indirect manager who only saw a high-level summary may not know your work well enough. A current supervisor can validate an older example if they know your skills, but the ideal is the person who supervised that work.
Ontario's August 2026 guide tightened one point: for work done in Canada the validator must have held a P.Eng. licence in Canada when the work was carried out, not only when they sign. Record the month each validator was licensed on the desk and it will flag examples from before that month.
Talk to each validator before you name them. Alberta sends one response form per competency, so a validator with 16 competencies receives 16 links. The validator packets on the desk print only the competencies assigned to each person, with your text and rating and a blank column for theirs, so the conversation happens before the portal sends anything.
Worked example: spreading 22 competencies across validators
An Alberta applicant assigns 21 competencies to their supervisor and one to a second validator, and names a third person who is not assigned anything. The desk reports the three-validator rule as not met: 2 validators are assigned so far. Moving one competency to the third validator makes it met, with the supervisor still holding 20 of the 22. That matches APEGA's own arithmetic: one validator can take up to 20 if the other two take one each.
In Ontario, an example from work in 2021 and 2022 assigned to a validator licensed from April 2023 comes out not met: v1 was licensed from 2023-04; the work ran to 2022-12. On the shared system, naming three validators leaves the four-validator rule not met.
Common mistakes
- Assigning two validators to one competency. Every regulator allows only one.
- Naming a senior manager who never saw the work, instead of the person who supervised it.
- In Ontario, choosing a colleague who became licensed only after the work in the example.
- In Alberta, relying on two validators, or naming a relative.
- Not warning validators about the time: a long list of competencies means a long list of forms.
Draft and check your own examples
The desk holds your experience records, validators and a Situation, Action and Outcome editor for every competency, with live counts against the limit and the rating, category and validator checks, each with its rule cited. Everything stays in this browser.
Frequently asked questions
Can my validator be someone from a different company?
Yes. Validators can be supervisors, managers, mentors, clients or colleagues, as long as they have direct knowledge of the work in the example. The regulator decides whether each one is acceptable.
Does every validator have to be a professional engineer?
Not always. Ontario and Alberta require a Canadian P.Eng. for certain work done in Canada; the shared system prefers professional engineers but does not require it for every validator.
Can I change a validator later?
Alberta allows changes until all validator forms are submitted. Ontario says experience information cannot be changed once validators are notified, so settle validators before that point.
Sources
Last reviewed 27 September 2026 against:
- Applicant Guide: Navigating Competency-Based Assessment, Professional Engineers Ontario, August 2026. Used for: one validator per competency, Canadian licence at the time of the work, validators outside Canada, family members
- Validator Guide: Navigating Competency-Based Assessment, Professional Engineers Ontario, August 2026. Used for: the validator's responsibilities and the licence timing rule
- APEGA Competency-Based Assessment Guide for Professional Engineering Applicants, APEGA, V7.4, 18 July 2026. Used for: minimum of three validators, up to 20 competencies for one validator, Category 1 licence rules, family members
- Competency Assessment Guide for Engineering Applicants and Trainees, Engineers and Geoscientists BC, revised April 2024. Used for: minimum of four validators covering four years, supervisor requirement, unassigned validators
This guide is our own summary of the published documents, not legal advice and not a finding about your application; the regulator's assessors decide. If it disagrees with the current documents, the documents win. Competency Desk is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Professional Engineers Ontario, APEGA, Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Engineers Canada or any other engineering regulator.