Organized groups of professional engineers existed for many years in various Ontario communities, and although there was cooperation between these groups and the Council of the association, no official recognition was deemed necessary until 1960. In the late 1950s, the association was faced with unrest within its membership, which was being expressed by an organization known as CAPE (Committee for the Advancement of Professional Engineers). At the same time, a brief from the Niagara Group of Professional Engineers advocated a change in the system of Council representation. In reviewing these situations, the Council found that communications with the membership could be improved greatly.

In 1959, Council formed a special committee called the Area Groups Committee to study the need for improved communications between Council and the membership, possible methods of communication and the question of area or regional representation on Council rather than the traditional branch representation. The committee reported to Council in April 1960 and, accordingly, a referendum was held in 1960 asking for approval of a chapter program. Although this was favoured by a bare majority of members, a province-wide organization of chapters was established in 1961 with the purpose of improving communications and giving members an opportunity to participate more fully in association affairs.

Despite the bare majority vote on the referendum, there was a large group of members with the willingness and the enthusiasm to take an active role in professional affairs. By the end of 1961, there were 31 chapters; today there are 36.

The primary purpose of the chapter system was to improve intra-association communications, with emphasis on membership to Council communication. However, while chapter executives established communications with Council through their chapter chairs, the members-at-large seldom used the chapter system as a communications vehicle. This was largely due to two factors:

• The time-consuming task of ensuring that each individual member had ample opportunity to express views on the topics under consideration
• The limited number of members who were willing to take an active part in chapter activities.

Consideration of the future of the chapter system led to the inclusion in the 1968-69 Act of a provision for election of Councillors on a regional basis. Consequently, in 1969, the 42 chapters were grouped into five regions, and regional congress meetings were initiated as a means of conveying members' views through the Regional Councillors, at the regular Council meetings.

The chapters, meanwhile, continued to arrange activities for their members, including semi-technical and social meetings, and gradually expanded the scope of their operations to include Engineering Days and Engineering Weeks, plus special projects of benefit to their communities.

Although the chapters are not referred to in the Professional Engineers Act, they are considered an integral part of the association and operate on the basis of charters granted by Council. Chartering consists of the recording of a Motion of Council approving the formation of the chapter and defining the geographical area.

The relationship between the Council and Chapters is defined in By-law No.1.