Arpenteur a land surveyor

Dear Dr. Bill,

I know my father has been feeling, of late, like he has an obsolete occupation. The job market can be tough for a guy his age who wasn't educated in Canada, even though he's been working here 30 years. But he is working today - in fact, as we speak (type?) - so I don't think land surveyors are quite obsolete, just yet. There are plenty of them around, without them you wouldn't know where to build your house or your road. Or your movie theatre, or your new subdivision, or your train tracks...