You would be missing out if you passed over a resume because the applicant didn't attend a big-name U.
Those who were involved with the annual conference for the American Society of Civil Engineers would definitely know about Lakehead U. This conference hosts a steel bridge design competition every year in which Lakehead students had been very successful in recent years. This year, Lakehead placed 5th overall, behind, U of Michigan, Wisconsin Madison, Florida and Penn State. Last year, they took 2nd place overall- with an all-women team, a first in the competition's history!
There is greater uniformity among Canadian engineering programs than in the U.S. If the performance of Lakehead's civil engineering students in recent design competitions is any indication of the quality of their programs, I would expect their EE grads would be no slouches either.
Other than that, you provided some good insight into the hiring process at many large companies, and especially at Raytheon.