Originally, the Canadian Society for BioEngineering (CSBE), or La Société canadienne de génie agroalimentaire et de bioingénierie (SCGAB) in French, is a technical society representing all professionals and students with an interest in the application of scientific and engineering principles for the sustainable production of food, bioproducts, and bioenergy. With “bioengineering” defined as the application of engineering principles, practices, and technologies to the fields of medicine and biology, especially in solving problems and improving care, its continued use in the name of our technical society was both inaccurate and misleading. Actually, “bioengineering” refers in essence to biomedical engineering. Therefore, a change of name was required.

After a long selection process, Danny Mann presented at the 2022 AGM, Society name voting results in favor of the Canadian Society for Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (CSABE), or La Société canadienne de génie agroalimentaire et des biosystèmes (SCGAB) in French. During the fall 2022, the Council retained the attorney firm Taylor McCaffrey (Winnipeg, MB) for help in formalizing the name change for both Society and Foundation. In winter 2023, the name reservation for "The Canadian Society for Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering" was rejected because the name contains the word "Engineering". During the years 2023 and 2024, I obtained information from each governing regulator and contacted the 12 bodies to get consent letters for both entities (Society and Foundation) for the English and French names. In the fall 2024, we obtained the consent from Engineers Canada. Corporations Canada finally ratify the new designations as our legal names on January 27, 2025. We encourage you to use them from now on.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Sébastien Fournel
CSABE|SCGAB Society Manager