The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has sentenced Benabdallah Chouchaoui of Windsor, Ontario, to 14 days in jail for violating a 2011 court injunction that barred him from offering engineering services or using a professional engineer’s seal without a license from Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO). Chouchaoui, who has never been licensed by PEO, was found in contempt of court for continuing to promote his company, Windsor Industrial Development Laboratory Inc. (WIDL), as an engineering firm and for submitting permit applications using forged or unauthorized engineering seals.

PEO launched an investigation following new complaints beginning in 2023 and uncovered evidence that between 2019 and 2024, Chouchaoui submitted four separate building permit applications to the City of Windsor. These applications included engineering drawings fraudulently stamped with the seal of a licensed engineer—none of which were prepared or approved by the named engineer.

The court imposed the jail sentence on October 15, 2025, and Chouchaoui was immediately taken into custody. He was also ordered to pay over $21,000 in investigative and legal costs to PEO, in addition to a previously awarded $50,000 in court costs related to the contempt hearing. Justice Gina Papageorgiou emphasized that violating engineering regulations puts the public at risk and that PEO’s licensing regime is essential for public safety.

According to the Professional Engineers Act, only individuals licensed by PEO and firms holding a Certificate of Authorization are legally permitted to offer or perform engineering services in Ontario. The unauthorized use or forgery of a professional engineer’s seal is a quasi-criminal offence and may lead to additional charges under the Criminal Code of Canada.

PEO CEO and Registrar Jennifer Quaglietta, P.Eng., reaffirmed the regulator’s commitment to enforcing the law and thanked municipal, provincial, and public stakeholders for reporting unlicensed activity.

To protect public safety, PEO encourages individuals and companies to verify licensure using the official PEO Directory. Reports of unlicensed engineering activity can be made via PEO’s enforcement hotline at 1-800-339-3716 ext. 1444.

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